Hope For Haiti

Today at church, Big A picked up an offering envelope and told me that he wanted to 'give some dollars to Haiti'. I told him that I didn't have any and he said, "I have some at home in my blue piggy bank. I want to give some to Haiti." I agreed that he could do that if he wanted to and I even picked up the donation form for him after the service. I wasn't sure if he'd actually follow through once he had his hands on the money, but he talked about nothing else all day!

After nap he came running in with his piggy bank and said, "Can we give money to Haiti now?!?!" Little A followed with her piggy bank and they both stood at the side of my bed waiting for me to get their dollars out.

I got the money out of Big A's bank and handed it all to him ($15 total) and then got the money out of Little A's bank (about the same amount) and handed it to her. Then I asked how much they wanted to give to Haiti.

Big A (handing me 4 x $1 and 1 x $5) - "I want to give them five dollars."

Me - "Well, Honey, this is $5. See the 5 on it? So if you give them all of this it's $9."

Big A (handing me 1 x $5 and 2 x $1) - "Okay, I'll give them $7."

Me - "Okay."

Little A - "I don't know how much to give him."

Me - "Honey, Haiti is not a person, it's a place. Big A, explain to Little A about Haiti."

Big A - "Little A, Haiti is a place where there was a big earthquake and they lost all of their money. We're going to give this money to them so that when they build new grocery stores they can take this money and buy stuff."

Little A (handing me 3 x $1) - "Oh. I want to give him $3 because I'm 3." (Well, we tried! LOL)

Big A (taking back 2 x $1) - "Well actually I think I'll give them $5 because I'm 5."

Me (putting the rest of the money back in the banks) - "Okay. That's $8 to send to Haiti. Let's go get it ready to take to church next week."

Big A - "Mommy, what address to we send it to?"

I explained that we can fill out the donation form and put it in the offering plate at church and that they'll take care of sending the money to Haiti for us. I guess that satisfied them because they're off playing happily now!

I'm pleasantly surprised that five years of teaching the kids about giving to others and helping those in need has finally paid off. My kids have made their first donation to a worthy cause of their own accord.

Well done, Big A and Little A, WELL DONE!