This year has been one for the history books … and these compassionate kids should be included in the pages! We hope they inspire you to think of creative ways to help others. Bonus: Some of these kids’ stories include great Christmas gift ideas!
Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness
Did you read the spring 2020 issue of Compassion Explorer Magazine? Siblings Van, Liza and Joel did, and they found the “20 Acts of Kindness” planner inside. The planner gave some ideas for showing kindness to others, but it also challenged kids to come up with their own. With their parents’ help, 7-year-old Van, 3-year-old Joel and 5-year-old Liza (pictured from left to right) thought of creative acts of kindness they could do for one another.
So how did it go? “I helped Liza finish sweeping the deck,” says Van, completing the “help a family member with a chore” act of kindness. Liza helped her mom unload the dishwasher and set the table before she was asked — which counted for the “offer to help before you’re asked” act. And Joel may be only 3, but he joined in the acts of kindness too — praying for their family’s three sponsored children. After he learned that some kids in poverty can’t afford new shoes and have to wear worn-out pairs, he started praying that God will provide good shoes for sponsored children.
The siblings finished all 20 acts of kindness! They also took time to write to their sponsored children and share two Bible verses that are extra special to their family: John 14:6 and Philippians 4:4.
Beads That Meet Needs
Maddie, 12, loves to craft, and she loves to give. So she put the two together by starting Maddie’s Melts Gifts, an online shop where she sells her unique crafts. She donates half her earnings to charities including Compassion, and hopes to earn enough to sponsor a child! Her family sponsors a 2-year-old named Silvia in Bolivia, and Maddie says she’d like to sponsor another child, one who lives in Africa.
Maddie makes her artistic creations out of Perler beads — those little plastic nubs that melt together into designs. Maddie’s Perler bead creations range from Christmas ornaments to magnets. Some of her latest are scented with essential oils for a yummy smell. Melt on, Maddie!
Gift Ideas
Go to etsy.com/shop/MaddiesMeltsGifts to order some of her creations.
Chocolate for Chickens
Last fall, twin 6-year-olds Margaret and Caroline were looking through Compassion’s Gift Catalog. They asked their mom if she’d buy them some of the chickens pictured on one of the pages! But their mom explained that the animals and other gifts in the catalog weren’t to order for themselves, but for families in poverty. The girls were still interested! They wanted to buy gifts from the catalog to help kids like their sponsored child in Peru. Or, as Margaret puts it, to help kids “be healthy so they can live a long life.”
So they came up with a plan to make hot chocolate kits to sell to family, friends and neighbors. They got together with their mom, their grandma and their 4-year-old brother, Thomas, to put cocoa and marshmallows inside baggies, which they decorated with ribbons. They sold them for a suggested donation of $4 each, and sold out so fast they had to make more! When their fundraiser was finished, they had $300 to buy gifts from the catalog. They spent $120 on chickens, which help families in poverty get money and food. They spent the remaining $180 on the gift of water containers for kids who don’t have safe water near their homes. Way to go, Margaret, Caroline and Thomas!
Gift Ideas
1. Make your own hot chocolate kits to give away.
2. Go to compassion.com/catalog to see all the gifts
that can be given (in addition to chickens and safe water).
Power of Community
God made us to live in community. The word “community” can mean an area where people live near one another (like a neighborhood or town). But it also means a group of people who come together because they care about the same thing.
“It is important to have community because they support you, and it’s never good to be alone,” says Erin, 10. She and her siblings in North Carolina — Edna, 3, Elijah, 14, and Ella, 12 (pictured from right to left, starting with Erin on the right) — are part of a church community formed around a shared love of Jesus. That love inspires them to help others, like Poma, the girl they sponsor in Bolivia. But Ella, Elijah, Erin and Edna wanted to help even more people in poverty — like moms and babies in San Pedro, Peru.
Edna says it’s important to help moms and kids “so they can be healthy and live happy.” So the siblings told their community of relatives, friends and church family that they wanted to make sure babies and moms in San Pedro had the food, medicine, supplies and prayer they needed. “We have what we need, and a little more, and they have almost nothing,” Erin says. “If we all give a little we can help at least a couple of those families to know Jesus and not go to bed hungry.”
In just one month, the “fantastic four” and their community raised $3,000! Oh and that’s not all that Elijah, Ella, Edna and Erin have done — they also hosted an event at their church called Compassion Sunday, which helped nine children find sponsors! These are four siblings who show the power of community!
Calling all kids!
Have you done something special to help children in Compassion's program?
Let us know by emailing [email protected]!