the kinder were literally jumping for joy
when watching the wind spin the pinwheels on the grass!
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jumping for joy – leaping-for-joy (japanese)
躍り上がる (odoriagaru: to spring up, leap to one’s feet) to leap + up.
Meet Cake4Kids: The Nonprofit That Bakes Birthday Cakes for Foster and At-Risk Children
Inspired by an article profiling a young girl in the foster care system who burst into tears upon receiving her first birthday cake, Cake4Kids founder Libby Gruender recognized that such a simple gesture could have a profound impact on the lives of underprivileged children. IIn 2010, Cake4Kids launched as a grassroots effort in Sunnyvale, California, with a handful of volunteers baking 13 cakes for a few agencies that support youth. Today, the organization encompasses hundreds of volunteers, serves over 400 social services agencies, and provides over 3,000 custom, homemade cakes or sweets for at-risk kids (ages 1-24) on an annual basis — with more than 40,000 treats delivered in the past 13 years
While a birthday cake may seem like a simple gesture to many, each baked good serves as a sweet reminder to the children and youth in the U.S. foster care system that they are seen, cherished, and not forgotten.
Per the organization’s website, children served by this mission include “youth in foster care, group homes, homeless shelters, transitional and low income housing, domestic violence or human trafficking shelters, substance abuse programs, and refugees.” Agencies partnering with Cake4Kids must serve at-risk or underserved youth, be categorized as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization or government agency, and have offices in an area served by Cake4Kids.
Three years after Cake4Kids began, Gruender sadly passed away, but her mission continues to live on: The organization has since expanded across the country, with chapters all across the United States.
For more information, visit the Cake4Kids website to learn how you can volunteer, start a chapter in your area, and donate.
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“how far that little candle throws his beams! so shines a good deed in a weary world.”
-william shakespeare, the merchant of venice
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-source credit: julia diddy
i will never forget
it was a friday
show and tell time
sitting on the floor
they took turns going around our circle
each child sharing their special thing
other children kindly looking at it
showing appreciation for what the others shared
then we came to n
who clearly had forgotten to bring something
yet said “i have something too”
he proudly walked around the circle
both hands together
gently cradling a single crumb
that he had picked up off our floor
showing each child
talking about his crumb
as the others
were all so kind
smiling at his crumb
complimenting him on his crumb
accepting the crumb as his special thing
without judging his crumb
my favorite show and tell special thing of all time.
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“the wise learn from the experience of others, and the creative know how to make a crumb of experience go a long way.”
-eric hoffer
spent time in my classroom
doing some pre-planning with my team
and saw how thorough
our summer cleaning crew had been.
i especially loved the note they left on the chairs:
they did not merely say
‘chairs cleaned’
but instead they kicked it up a notch to an ’11’
the ‘disinfected’ level
for the kinders’ chairs.
i can certainly appreciate that.
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“growth itself contains the germ of happiness.”
-pearl s. buck
children and the young at heart
are encouraged to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty
in honor of International Mud Day.
a man is getting old when he walks around a puddle instead of through it. ~R.C. Ferguson
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image credits: letthechildrenplay.com, firefliesandmudpuppies,g2goutside.org