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Recipients of the successful SixSeed's project Operation Send-a-Box.
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SixSeeds Asks America's Families to Answer National Call to Service
SixSeeds, a national non-profit promoting
service and giving by families, today issued a challenge to America's families
to complete at least one service project in 2009 and keep alive the renewed
interest in volunteering generated by the presidential inaugural.
“If we all give in our own big and small ways, we can tap into American families'
amazing potential for good, and we'll all benefit,” said Jean Kingston, who
co-founded SixSeeds in the Boston area with her husband John. “Regardless of
their political stripes, America's families can agree helping others enriches
our own lives. When we serve as a family, we benefit from time spent together
and by children learning from their parents about generosity and service.”
On the eve of his inauguration, President Barack Obama turned the national
spotlight onto public service by helping to paint a teen homeless shelter in
Washington, D.C., where he was quoted saying, “We can't allow any idle hands ...
Everybody's got to be involved.”
The President's remarks echoed the philosophy of the non-partisan SixSeeds, which
believes engaging the entire family in giving back to the community is the best
way to instill the virtues of generosity and service to future generations.
Started in 2006, SixSeeds catalyzes family service and giving by providing
inspiration, ideas, best practices and assistance.
Families seeking ways to serve and give can find inspiration at
www.sixseeds.org the source for the best
wisdom and intelligence in family-based service. The site features hundreds of
ideas to try today, this month and this year, such as holding a neighborhood car
wash or challenging each family member to spend $5 to benefit someone else.
SixSeeds.org includes a search tool for
finding nearby family-based service opportunities and curriculum and literature
for teaching children about giving and service. SixSeeds can also provide
families with project webpage hosting, on-line tax-deductible donation
capabilities, and staff technical assistance.
“In today's word, with all the time commitments working against family
activities, carving out space for a family service project can bring as much joy
to the family as it does to the recipients,” said Curtis Chang, Executive
Director of SixSeeds, based in San Jose. “By families serving together, parents
can teach their children the virtues of generosity and service. In 2009, every
family should strive to complete a project, and we can offer them ideas on how
to make it happen.”
SixSeed families have completed dozens of family-based projects in seven U.S.
states and 11 nations in the past two years. The following two examples show how
the efforts of a single familSixSeed families have completed dozens of
family-based projects in seven U.S. states and 11 nations in the past two years.
The following two examples show how the efforts of a single family can inspire
and grow to exceed initial expectations.
Operation Send-a-Box
For the French family, “Operation Send-a-Box” started with care packages to dad,
Capt. David French, who was serving in Iraq with the 3d Armored Cavalry
Regiment. When Capt. French sent word that many enlisted men in his unit did not
have families to send them packages, his wife, Nancy, jumped into action.s,
snacks, bedding and other items. In a matter of months, Operation Send-a-Box
shipped 2,500 packages to soldiers with an estimated value of a quarter million
dollars.
The Kenyan Orphanage
The Kennedys of Pennington, N.J., were inspired to raise money for an AIDS
orphanage in Kenya by two brothers at their church who had mobilized a care
package drive. The Kennedys' young children were so enthused, they volunteered
part of their weekly allowance to donate to the orphanage. The children wrote
letters and tucked them into the care packages for the orphans. The efforts of
these families blossomed into the formation of the U.S.-based Bright Future
Foundation to raise funds for the orphanage and organize service trips by
American families to Kenya.
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