Maya and her friends in The Donators met today at our house to wrap up three months of fund-raising for Heifer International.   Their goal was $500.   After the final tally they’d raised $366 with their own donations and through donation jars they placed at our store and at a local bakery.   Then, thanks to Joshua and his partners at Arties, who agreed to match whatever funds the kids raised, they wound up with $740.

I can’t tell you how much fun it is to watch a group of kids get so excited about giving.   They chose a heifer (of course) a goat, some chicks, ducks and a few trees with the money they raised.     If you’d like to read about it in their words, go to www.the-donators.com .

Tomorrow begins their next three month fund-raising push.   This time they’ve chosen Smile Train as their charity.   Smile Train provides cleft palate surgeries to children in third world countries whose parents cannot afford it.  At only $250 per surgery, this is not an expensive procedure, so the kids want to raise $500 and buy two of them.

Watching this group of kids, who range in age from 7 to 12,  discuss the charities they want to put on their list for the months to come, I think that if only more people could get excited about helping others, rather than spending so much time complaining about their own situation, the world would be a much better place.