Week #12 Everyday...

Week #12 Paige has found a way to give a little everyday this week to the people in Haiti. Whether it was at school (they have done an amazing job informing the kids!), a counter top coin box at the grocery store, bank, coffee shop, you name it there's a way to give. It's amazing how everyone has come together to support the people effected by this tradegy. For ways you can help out too check out...
http://mashable.com/2010/01/13/haiti-earthquake-donate-help/


Every little bit helps.

Be Phat!

Helping Haiti

Week #11- there's no question this week...Paige decided to donate her piggy bank to the people of Haiti. Darcy and I sat down with Paige and explained to her (trying not to frighten her) about the earthquake and it's impact on the people of Port-au-Prince. We watched video coverage together and answered her questions the best we could about why this happened. She cannot imagine the depth of devestation that has taken place so far way...but she wanted to "help make things better". We looked at the listing of organizations offering aid and Paige wanted to donate food to give everyone the energy to stay strong. She picked Food For The Hungry and made a donation on-line and also sent a donation text.

Here is some information about how the organization is helping out...

Food for the Hungry is flying in 4800 blankets, 160 rolls of plastic 2200 solar flashlights, two commercial size water filters, 1,152 jerry cans and 1440 hygiene kits. With funds supporting Stop Hunger Now, a 747 jet is headed toward Haiti with purchased dehydrated food packs and water. We are also partnering with Kode Red to ship clothing, plastic sheeting and tarps, wheelchairs, bandages and gauze, water purifying tablets, water and food.

If you would like to make a donation go to: https://www.fh.org/learn/news/disaster/haiti-rocked-by-powerful-quake?promocode=WA25WD0A2

Namaste

xoPaige

Week #10 Burrr...

The snow is finally here and for Week #10 Paige decided to gather up some extra coats, pillows and blankets to donate to those who could put them to good use. "It's so cold outside..everyone needs a good jacket to keep them warm". I tried to explain to Paige the amount of people that don't have one. She looked a little confused and I know she has a hard time understanding how many people that actually is. I reminded myself to take one day at a time and that her genuine love for giving is a HUGE start! As we packed the stuff up she spotted a large blue blanket up in the closet and she had to give it too. Seeing the smile on her face as she pushed it into the drop box was inspiring. "Someone's going to love this!" she said.

Her new daily giving idea: she put some of her piggy bank change in a little purse and gave it to me to hold onto. She keeps her eye out for donation boxes on store counter tops...and she can donate to them too! Today she donated to the Heart & Stroke Foundation. That sparked a whole new conversation! To be continued...

Week #9 Toy Donation and a trip to Susie's Firehall!

It's week #9 and so close to Christmas. Paige wants everyone to have something special to open on Christmas day so...she opened up her piggy bank and we took a trip to the dollar store to max out the number of gifts she could purchase. Her sister and cousins Baylee, Cooper and Faith joined us. So fun! They scoured the local Dollarama for anything they thought a young boy or girl would love! They filled two huge gift bags full! Yahoo!!! Cooper asked if he could get something and we all discussed how this was not about getting..but about giving today. After that we headed to Susie's Firehall to drop off the donation. They all wanted to carry the bags into the hall and were excited to show what they had brought. Susie took us for a tour and we got to meet some wicked firefighters, check out the HUGE firetruck and Paige tested out the horn too! Yikes. Paige was so excited to see where Susie worked and it was awesome to see how inspired they all were by her and how great it feels to give to others.

Be Phat!

Week #8 Gift Giving & Cookie Baking...

Paige was a busy girl this weekend and tackled 2 awesome efforts to give back to others.

First Paige filled a shoebox full of stuff for an "adult female" for Operation Shoebox--an initiative led by MacSOC (McMaster Student Outreach Collaborative) that delivers gifts in a shoebox this December to those living in poverty and who are experiencing homelessness in our community.

Paige picked up some great personal items including a new toothbrush (it had to be purple!) and candy too. She hopes whomever receives it has a sweet tooth! We'll drop the box off to our good friend Laurel who sent the information on about this AMAZING initiative. Paige knows how lucky she is to have something to open on Christmas morning and is excited that she was able to give someone else something to open up too.

Next up...baking nut-free cookies for the church. The cookies will be served at the Christmas dinner put on for homeless in our community. We invited Paige's cousins Baylee and Faith over to bake with us too. We decided on ginger bread cookies and just happened to have Christmas cutters in the house. Strange..don't remember having them! lol. The girls cut out angels, stars, candles, reindeer, and Christmas stockings and covered them with bright coloured sprinkles. After they were cooked they got to taste one...maybe two! The rest were packed up and delivered to the church. "Giving back can be pretty tasty" said Paige. Hopefully someone will enjoy the cookies as much we enjoyed baking them!

If you have an idea for Paige's 52 week project let us know!

Be Phat!

Week #7 It's a GREEN week..

This week Paige decided to do something good for the planet. Every little thing makes a difference! She collected all the plastic grocery bags we had from under the sink and in the cupboard and we headed to Fortino's. There's a grocery bag donation container at the entrance. Paige read the sign "Used Plastic Bags will be transformed into other usable plastic materials;not sent to landfill." So great! "Together let's reduce the amount of waste on our planet." Yahoo!!! Paige felt good about her contribution and decided that we can only use reusable shopping bags from now on.

Next week...we are baking Cookies for the church..and participating in "Operation Shoebox".

Be Phat!

Helping Out! Week #6

We were finishing up breakfast yesterday morning and I asked Paige what she wanted to do this week. She glanced out the front window and said she'd like to help someone. Awesome idea. "Can I help someone rake their leaves?" Great! Of coarse I love the fitness aspect of it! I asked her who she'd like to help out and she quickly replied "aunt Wendy".

A little about aunt Wendy...she's my aunt so therefore Paige's great aunt and she is an AMAZING woman. I have so many memories growing up with her...camping, learning to drive (another blog one day!), painting our toes and bottom line she was there for me when I needed to talk. Paige thought of her without any coaching from me either! She picked up the phone and called her right away. Luckily she was home and uncle Glyn was too. So we grabbed our rake and headed over.

Wendy and Paige did a great job! And inspired uncle Glyn to start putting up the Christmas lights. It was a fun afternoon! Paige filled 2 large garbage bins with leaves and I was pretty amazed with her determination to do a great job. Not only did she give her time this week...she spent it with someone special to her. A day neither of them will soon forget.

Be Phat!