Kids Can Make a Difference!

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“What can we do?” That’s one of the main questions you kids ask after a presentation                                              on taking care of the earth or the challenges facing young people around the world. 

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You know we need changes in the way we are treating our earth, and you know that girls                                          and native people and others just want a good chance for a good life.

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There is plenty you can do! At NCP we get to meet kids just like you who are making changes in their own lives, and in the lives of others!

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4th graders at Wheatland Elementary School in Wichita learned about how many trees it takes to make paper towels in America every day – 55,000 – and started using the “seven shaky method” when washing their hands in the restroom. Shake seven times, hit your pants, dry hands!

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Danielle started really caring about nature as a second grader – she was afraid polar bear                                      mothers wouldn't be able to take care of their babies as the ice caps melted. So she held a

bake sale for polar bears and sent the money to NCP to plant trees to help fight global

warming. Lately she and a friend held a sale to save the sea turtles and sent us what they 

raised to plant trees, since sea level rise is a threat to sea turtles' nesting areas. 

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Hope called out her parents when she was in elementary school about using paper plates

for the evening meal when they were in a rush. “What would Mother Nature think,” she

asked them. They gave in and got out the washable plates.

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Kids at a middle school in Indiana were so concerned about girls not going to school, that they organized

“penny wars” at their school, with classes competing against each other to see how many pennies they

could bring in to support girls’ education. They raised over $700! which will keep 10 girls in school

for a year. (We sent all the organizers one of our T-shirts as a thank you gift!)

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A fourth grader in Kansas felt like she wasn't doing anything to make a difference with the problems

facing our earth and gave us all the money she had – 71 cents. That will plant 7 trees – so she is

making a difference!

 

You can do things like this!

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Step One

Think about what you care about in this world – something that really bothers you or

angers you or inspires you to make a change.

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Step Two

See who you can get to help you. Maybe other kids feel the same way but they didn't

know anybody else did. (photo: kids formed a green club at Colonial Elementary School in                                    Virginia – one of their projects was to get invasive species like crawfish out of the stream that                                    runs by the school)

 

Step Three

Then start to make your plan – what's the thing you want to change or support and what are

some creative ways to do it. NCP provides lots of good options:

•  You can help plant trees in Asia and Africa and the Amazon rainforest where as little                                         as 10 cents plants a tree. (photo of school girls in Malawi planting trees – NCP will plant 60,000                               there this year) 

• We support girls’ education in Africa and Asia. $60-$200 provides a year’s scholarship, $35                                buys a backpack and supplies, $15 provides a girl with a pair of shoes, $25 can help her have                             some food to eat before she goes to school in the morning, as some girls' families are so                                   poor they don't have any breakfast.

• You could also do a program to educate the people in your school, club or or other group about a                             particular issue such the palm oil plantations that are destroying tropical forests all around the world                        (palm oil is an ingredient in half of the stuff in the grocery store) OR the many challenges facing young                      women as they try to go to school (129 million girls are out of school around the world) OR the way                          climate change is melting the glaciers in Alaska and threatening everything from the coral reefs                              in the oceans to the people in poor countries. You know the causes: cars, the foods we eat and the                            food we waste, the energy we use in our homes, all the things we buy. Teach people about                                these and other things you care about, since a lot of people just don't know about the problems we face.            (photo: Olivia from Jonesborough, Tennessee took on the Girl Scouts to try to get them to stop using                    palm oil in their cookies!)

 

And if they hear it coming from someone like you, they'll have a hard time ignoring it!

 

Let NCP know how we can help you get the word out about something that concerns you or want to raise funds to make a difference.

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Here's more information on our Give a Girl a Chance program for girls' education and our Two Million Tree Campaign. Donations can be made on those pages or here, or by check to NCP, 117 Nature Road, Blue Ridge, VA 24064. 

 

And remember: all the money you raise for girls or trees goes right to them – we don’t keep any of it!

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Contact David Radcliff for more information on any of this - or with reports of something you did! (dradcliffncp@yahoo.com, 540-855-1199