The Trickle Down Effect
March 13, 2011 | 11:00 am
Posted by Carolyn
It’s a little scary to know that our children are always watching us and often model what we do. As parents, we teach by example – that means no yelling at the TV when the Red Sox are losing or Tom Brady throws an interception. It means always wearing a seat belt and not talking on the phone while driving. It means not eating cookies for breakfast and eating the same healthy snack I am offering my kids when what I really want to snack on are M&M’s. They are watching our big choices and our little ones – Sometimes we wince at what they have picked up from us but other times we nearly burst with pride.
Five years ago when we started A Step Up, my kids were just 5 and 6 years old. They snacked on the leftover cookies after the event and made an appearance in their pajamas before their 7 pm bedtime. As they got a bit older, they sat on the stairs and listened to the speaker and eventually, my now, 10 year old daughter, joined the guests in the family room. She listened as our speakers taught us about the foster care system, homeless youth and empowering children. After the event, Emily asked me lots of questions and suggested she could help too. She joined the community service club at her school and supported Birthday in a Box and put on a talent show at a local nursing home. She talked about joining A Step Up or starting her own A Step Up. I put her off –telling her she was too young and feeling great that she wanted to do something for others. That was enough for me but not for her.
In January of this year, Emily asked me if she could do her OWN community service project. She asked me if she could call Judy Cockerton (founder of the Treehouse communities) and see if she needed help with a project. I suggested she go on Judy’s website (treehousecommunties.org) and see if there was a specific project she wanted to support. Emily had been at A Step Up’s event for The Treehouse Foundation and learned about The Suitcase Project. She heard from Judy that kids being taken from a troubled homes often have no suitcase to carry their belongings. Instead they pack what they have in a trash bag. The Suitcase project provides kids in foster care with a new suitcase filled with items they might need or enjoy having when they have to move. Emily thought it would be a great idea to collect items that could be used to fill the suitcases for the kids.
Photo by Arthur Pollock
Emily wrote an email to our family and friends and that included a description of the Suitcase Project and a list of items kids in foster care might need. She put a box on our front porch so that donations could be dropped off anytime. The donations poured in for the Suitcase Project. Emily’s community Service project was so simple and the results were incredible. Everyday for a month she received donations. Emily filled 2 huge boxes with critical supplies for kids in foster care. Judy and her family came over on a Sunday afternoon to pick up the boxes and deliver them to DCFS in Holyoke. We took photographs and celebrated Emily’s accomplishment. Judy wrote a special thank you to Emily in her blog at treehousecommunities.org. There was even an article in the Boston Herald about Emily’s accomplishment. As much as Emily loved reading about herself, I don’t think she understood how such a simple project brought her so much attention. As I think about it, maybe that’s the message; if we spread the word about how simple it is to make a difference, I’m sure more people will follow Emily’s lead.
While, I realize that Emily may occasionally swear at the Red Sox games on television and she has to have a little bit of chocolate every day just like me, I don’t beat myself up too much because I also know that she has learned how important it is – and how good it feels – to help others. Judy walked out our door carrying boxes of supplies and wasn’t yet at her car when Emily said “Mom, I have an idea for my next project…”