"Penny of Time" Odyssey: Helping Homeless Children

Today, after our serving adventure, my oldest went upstairs and messed around for 20 minutes (or so I thought). He came down, his hands full of all his money (including the money from his first tooth fairy visit earlier in the week), and he said,"Mom, I want to give this to kids who don't have a home."

Okay!  We can make that happen.  But, I wanted him to understand what he was doing.  So, we talked about children who are homeless.  We watched a video that talked about what their lives are like (the three year old was spellbound).  We talked about what we thought we could do to help.  And, although the kids cannot comprehend the scope and scale of the problem, they do understand that these children are in dire need of help.  They understand that we have so many blessings and should do what we can to help.

















I was familiar with a group that supports homeless children.  We researched them, contacted them about their needs, and made a time to drop off our donation.  (http://www.captainhope.org/)

This "Penny of Time" Adventure then became an Odyssey as we spent the rest of the evening preparing for our drop off.

• We asked our Dad to go through the tons of toiletries that he gets when he travels so that we could bring the good, unopened shampoo/conditioner/soap.
• The boys got to work earning more money to donate.  They earned an additional $3.50 to donate by helping to paint house numbers and picking up acorns.
• My son and I went through all the shoes and found 10 pairs in the "too small" bin in excellent condition to donate.
• We found 6 sweatshirts on super-sale to donate.
• We threw in a box of diapers.
• I got permission from his teacher to miss an hour of school so we could make it to the organization for the drop off before it closed.
• We found several brand new outfits to put in the boxes.

 

 

We are ready!  The boys are so excited!  And tired!  And, so am I!  I am sure it will all be worth it once we finish this particular Odyssey tomorrow.  (You should have seen the three year old tell his dad very excitedly what we had decided to do.  "Dad!  We gonna help kids no homes!")