How freezies made a difference

Many of us dream of making a difference in our world. Personally, I just want to grab a mop and wipe out all the poverty and injustice. Then take a big can of magic spray and put an end to pain and suffering. But my efforts through the years have been sporadic and disconnected – a little volunteering here, a donation there.

The truth is, it's tough. Daily life gets in the way. Between work, kids and keeping it all together, our good intentions remain just that: good intentions. It's hard to grasp the thread of a good idea and turn it into something that will really help others.

But it only takes one person to say, "Wow, that's a great idea; we can make that happen." And that person, in turn, brings in more people, then together they weave that thread into a great tapestry. That's what happened at my son's elementary school, where the kids raised enough money to build a school in Haiti. Watching the tapestry take shape left me breathless, marvelling at the creativity and determination of our kids and wanting to do more.

So here's what I'm doing to make a difference. I'm telling the story so that some of you will be inspired to make a difference and help others, too.

A chance encounter
Every year, two families – the Mieles and the Novakovics – from All Saints Catholic School in Toronto vacation together in St. Petersburg, Fla. One night at the hotel, moms Mary Miele and Jacquie Novakovic started talking to another guest, Fintan Kilbride, who just happens to be on the board of directors of Free the Children in Toronto, an international network of kids in more than 20 countries committed to ending the exploitation of children (for more information, see A Thread of an Idea, page 174). Kilbride told the two women impassioned stories of how some kids at home in Canada were raising money to help build schools in underprivileged countries, including one school that had started with a penny drive. "We started to think, Wouldn't this be great to do at our kids' school?" says Mary. They exchanged phone numbers and agreed to keep in touch.

We learn about poverty in Haiti
When Kilbride returned home from Florida, he attended a meeting where he was asked to suggest an elementary school that was interested in fund-raising to build a small school in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. He called Mary and Jacquie, and they arranged for him to make a presentation at their next school advisory council meeting.

Between committee reports, Jacquie introduced Kilbride. She told us that he is a retired school teacher and listed off his volunteer efforts. Along with his work at Free the Children, he organizes shipments of medical supplies to developing countries and takes high school and university students to Kingston, Jamaica, for a few weeks each year to work with the poor: people living in the city's garbage dump, lepers and orphans.

Kilbride spoke quietly about the children and the living conditions he has seen in some developing countries. We shifted in our seats as he gave us the facts: one in five of the world's children between the ages of six and 11 do not attend school, and 150 million drop out of primary school before having completed four years of education. In Nicaragua, 20 per cent of children between the ages of six and nine work instead of going to school.

Page 1 of 3 - Read page two to find out how different grades can raise money