This year in our son Coda’s 1st grade class the kids were challenged to raise money to buy food for families in the school district who were in need of extra help. The goal was to fill 60 banker sized boxes with food. The kids were sent home with a sheet to track the extra work they would do and could either donate the money or bring food into the class room to contribute. The first night we sat down with him and came up with a list of chores that he could do to earn money around the house, such as feeding the dog and cat, taking laundry to the laundry room + cleaning various rooms in the house, each with a value. I will say, Coda is a good kid, but not the best at chores :)
The first night he started jumping up when I would go to feed the dog, saying it was his job, I could tell right away he was excited about the opportunity. He also called his grandpa asking if he could do work for him, and on Saturday when it snowed he went and shoveled his driveway to earn extra money. That night I told him how cool it was he was willing to work to help other families and asked him what his goal was to donate to the classroom… he told me $200! Of course wanting to encourage him I asked him how he thought he could raise that much and he asked if we could help. After brainstorming some idea’s we came up with shooting “mini-portrait sessions” for friends and posted a message on Facebook reaching out to people. He would shoot some photos and I would too and then we would give all the images to them when we were done. The response was almost overwhelming.
We have been completely humbled by our friends and families that wanted to help him raise money for this cause. One of Michelle and I’s goals is to raise children with large + giving hearts and the coolest part about this process was that Coda didn’t ask for anything in return the entire time we did it. We are so excited to say that with his extra chores, snow removal and photography he will contribute $220 to his classroom!!! Wow! Thank you so much for all the people that were so willing to help meet his goal, and all the people that sent encouragement his way. I would read him all the comments on Facebook and he would just sit and smile the whole time. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Below is some of the photos Coda shot during his sessions and some of Coda in action. I think we may have a future employee in the making.
Go Coda! What a wonderful gift you have given him in caring for others. And the photos are adorable, both of him and buy him. :)