CHILDREN RAISING FUNDS FOR CHILDREN WITH PEDIATRIC CANCER
How do you inspire a child for a lifetime? By teaching them how to help others. How can you change the world? One child at a time… Deborah Sawaf is teaching her three children the importance and value of compassion and giving back. A long-time fundraiser herself, she and her husband have worked as a family to inspire and create an awareness of what is and isn’t important, to share the rewards of giving away something you love as opposed to something you don’t want anymore. Her children have always given back 1/3 of everything they earned from chores or received as gifts, but when they turn eight they reach a new threshold. When her eldest son turned eight, he had the choice of no longer receiving gifts, but choosing to give his gifts to a cause. After visiting a children’s hospital, he was inspired to raise money for Pediatric Cancer Research. Since turning 8, and now 13 years old, he has raised $49,000.
Her daughter, at age 10, spent two weeks at the Mother Teresa Orphanage in Calcutta, its youngest volunteer to date. Today her daughter is involved in the UNICEF Hunger Fund and with her artwork has created a platform and product collection for her mother’s company called: “Flutter of Hope.” Flutter of Hope is a collection of bracelets, clutches and handbags ($19 – $2800) that carry a message of hope and belief in what we can accomplish together – “My endorsement to finding a cure.” Butterflies are a symbol of new beginnings and alight on the product. Twenty percent of proceeds from the sale of each of these products will go directly to Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles in support of pediatric cancer research. (www.CHLA.org), it’s the first step towards finding a cure. The children themselves are the best spokespersons for Flutter of Hope. In fact, starting at their own schools and then visiting nearby schools, they will be encouraging other kid’s philanthropy, one child at a time…
