God’s Eyes

I’m always trying to find ways for my kids to be involved in learning about money and an opportunity came up that I could not pass on.

Last weekend our neighborhood put together a weekend long garage sale. The sale was going to be advertised in all local newspapers so my husband and I decided to take advantage of the free advertisement and join our neighbors in the event.

As a family we went through the house and started to find in good-shape items that we no longer needed or wanted. We made a nice pile in the middle of our living room and started pricing each item.  The night before the sale we were setting things up when my oldest daughter Emma asked me if she could sell her handmade crafts called God’s Eyes for a dollar.  I asked her what she planned on doing with the money she earned and she replied that she’d like to donate half to her favorite foundation, The St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

Here’s a bit of background story, my 8 year old daughter Emma started donating to the St. Jude’s foundation last year after discovering that children suffer from cancer like adults do. She asked me how she could help so, I told her about the foundation.  That same day, she grabbed $20 from her piggy bank and wrote a sweet letter. We mailed the letter along with the donation the next day.  A week went by when she received a standard thank you letter from the St. Jude’s foundation along with a small gift but what touched her and motivates her today to continue donating is the face and story of a young girl like her that will benefit from her kind act.

It was a no brainer; my clever daughter was going to utilize the garage sale for her cause all the while she would learn how to interact with people and  handle money transactions.

Gods Eye

On the day of the garage sale, we set up our items in front of our home, set up a kids’ table with lemonade and my daughter’s craft along with a small handmade sign explaining the sale of the weaved crafts.

Emma was a bit scared about her new venture and was afraid people would think she was silly. At one point she almost packed her things up but something incredible happened, her middle sister Sofia noticed her big sister’s apprehension and did something amazing.  Sofia went into her piggy bank, pulled out one of her few dollar bills and purchased the first God’s Eye of the day. Sofia then gave the craft away to her little sister Grace and in an instant all three had become fused in one huge circle of kindness.  In that moment I was completely humbled and inspired by how truly beautiful these three little girls are.

At witnessing her sister’s act of kindness, Emma slowly got over her fears and although at first she was a little scared, she began to get the hang of it and started selling her small items.  Emma was pleased to find that people were happy to donate while others were thrilled to get such a lovely handmade item from a sweet 8 year old.

Emma didn’t make a lot of money that weekend (traffic to our home was sparse) but, she made enough to match her first donation.  However, I say we made more than we expected.  In that one moment of kindness from one sister to another, the gesture pure and sincere was absolutely priceless.

By Sofia buying that first God’s Eye, she simultaneously gave her older sister confidence, she gave herself the satisfaction of helping and gave her younger sister a selfless token of love which she will use as an example. It gives me hope that my girls will grow up to know that money can do good in so many ways and sometimes it’s simply by letting it go.

If you’d like to donate to Emma’s  favorite foundation please visit,
https://shop.stjude.org/GiftCatalog/donation.do?cID=13522&pID=18290&fnl=FaceHomeBtn

Have a terrific weekend,

Mommy  S~

About these ads