Random Act of Kid-ness: We Care Bears Project
This week’s Random Act of Kid-ness comes to us from Irvine, where 10 year old Jessica Carscadden came up with the We Care Bears Project that gives stuffed animals to first responders to hand out to scared or hurt children who they meet on the job. Jessica was abandoned in China when she was little because of a facial defect. She was adopted by a US couple, and she now wants to give back to children in need.
This week, Jessica delivered 75 bags of stuffed animals to the Orange County Fire District!
To watch a video about this story, click here.
Random Act of Kid-ness: Sibling Reunion, via Facebook
This week’s Random Act of Kid-ness comes to us from Davenport, IA, where 7 year old Eddie Hanzelin helped reunite two siblings who had not seen each other in 65 years. Eddie helped 7o year old Clifford Boyson find his sister Betty Billadeau by using his mom’s Facebook account to search for Betty’s maiden name. Betty and Clifford had been separated into different foster homes when they were children. Eddie immediately saw the family resemblance in Betty’s picture and knew he had found Clifford’s sister.
The two siblings met each other last Saturday, and they had a (happily) tearful reunion. Eddie said:
“Clifford did not have any family, and family’s important.”
Eddie said that he learned about helping others at school, and we are so proud of him and his social media detective work! You can read more about this story here.
Random Act of Kid-ness: First Graders Give the Gift of Kindness
Photo by Kristyna Wentz-Graff
This week’s Random Act of Kid-ness comes to us from Milwaukee, WI, where 7 year olds David Torres and Exavier Navejar at H.W. Longfellow Elementary School gave one of their classmates a gift after finding out he did not get any Christmas gifts. David decided to wrap a book and race car from his house, and Exavier drew a picture and wrapped it. They gave the presents to their classmate on the Friday after winter break. The classmate cried when he unwrapped, and said it felt good to get gifts. The principal of the kids’ school said:
“These kids have so little themselves, but they still found a way to give.”
What an inspiring story! You can read more about it here.
Random Act of Kid-ness: Archimedes Alliance
What if you could change the world with just 2 bucks?
Photo courtesy Leitner family via Portland Monthly
This week’s Random Act of Kid-ness comes to us from Portland, OR, where 14 year old Julien Leitner created a website called the Archimedes Alliance. Through this website, Julien’s goal was to ask 1 million people for just $2 each, with a goal of raising $2 million for different charities. Since he started over a year ago, every six months the Alliance has reached (and will, for 3 years) out to 1 million different people asking for the $2 donation. At the end of each six month period, all the money raised is donated to an organization selected by the contributors, and then the cycle begins again.
Julien has raised over $20,000 so far! You can read more about Julien and his idea here.
As always, we ask for your suggestions for our next RAK highlight. If you or someone you know is doing great things to change the world, we want to know!
Random Act of Kid-ness: Granting a Veteran’s Wish
This week’s Random Act of Kid-ness comes to us from Mississippi, where students from DeSoto Central Middle School raised money to send 92 year old World War II veteran Hulan Roberts back to the Belgian countryside where he fought during the war in 1944. With the help of Forever Young, a program that reunites WWII veterans with their comrades, the students raised over $4,400 through fundraisers like a spaghetti dinner and silent auction.
What a wonderful way to honor someone! You can read more about this story here.
It’s been such a great year of RAKs! Thanks to those who follow our weekly posts, and we can’t wait to highlight more acts of kindness in 2013! Happy new year!
Have You Seen It?!: Seasonal Craft Kits
Have you seen these SEASONAL CRAFT KITS available in the museum?!
Our Autumn Aprons kits were extremely popular this fall, and now we have two more kits, each available for donation* of $15 or more. You can paint vehicles and make your own roads with the Open Road kit, or decorate your own little winter beanie with Wacky Wearables!
*The Zimmer offers free and discounted memberships to families who qualify, and any donation helps make the power of play available to another family!
What are you waiting for? Come get your own kit at the Zimmer’s front desk today!
Random Act of Kid-ness: #26acts
This week’s Random Act of Kid-ness highlights 26 acts of kindness from children and adults across the world. This week, we love that in honor of Sandy Hook Elementary School victims, the hashtags #26acts and #26actsofkindness are trending on Twitter. In the wake of the tragedy one week ago today, Ann Curry called on people to do 26 random acts of kindness- one for each of the people killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Buzzfeed compiled some of the responses she got here, like the one below, and we know there are so many more out there.
We hope you, too, will be inspired to act and spread the word!
Staff Spotlight: Sasha Karlova, Visitor Experience Manager/Arts Educator
It’s time again to meet another Zimmer staff member. Say hello to Sasha, our Visitor Experience Manager/Arts Educator!
Name: Sasha Karlova
Position: Visitor Experience Manager/ Arts Educator
A little bit about her: Sasha received a BA in fine art from the University of California, Santa Barbara. However, she started her art education at the age of eight and continued taking art classes at Pasadena Art Center while
attending Fairfax High School Visual Arts Magnet. During her stay at UCSB she participated in several group art shows and was head curator of the 2009 Undergraduate Art Show in which she also exhibited her work. She has been a yearly muralist at the Pasadena Calk Festival since 2005 and interned with the Light Bringer Project, a non-profit arts organization. She continues to make art and exhibits her work whenever she gets a chance. An alumni of the Zimmer’s arts education outreach program, youTHink, Sasha loves sharing her enthusiasm for art with children and families here at the Zimmer.
Childhood hero: Darkwing Duck
Take me through a day in the life of Sasha at the Zimmer.
Each day at the Zimmer is different. That is something that I love about my job! I usually come in between 9/9:30 or 8:30 on Wednesdays for VIB hour! Then I walk through the museum turning on exhibits and lights and make my way to the kitchen. I feel like I’m waking the museum up as I turn everything on. Then it’s back upstairs to turn on the music, check my email and help at the front desk. On Thursdays I skip my usual morning routine and head straight to the art room to teach Messy Masterpieces (I wear my artist clothes that day). The class is so much fun! It’s so amazing to see each child experience art in their own way! The rest of the day can be a mix of working at my desk, helping at the front desk, facilitating Open Art, walking around the museum to restore exhibits and make sure everything is safe and fun , or teaching crEATe – one of our baby classes that uses edible materials to introduce babies to art! At the end of the day I can usually be found resetting our exhibits or at the front desk waving goodbye to our visitors.
What’s your favorite exhibit at the Zimmer?
It’s so hard to pick a favorite exhibit! I have so much fun in all of them! But… if I HAVE to choose I think I’d pick the Mann Theater. Since I spend a lot of time near that exhibit I always get to see fun plays and performances put on by our visitors. I am always amazed by how creative kids can be with just a costume, a stage and their imagination. I also love to see how children and parents play together here. This exhibit is also my favorite because that is where Friday Sing Along and Freeze Dance happens!
What is the most memorable thing you have been involved in at the Zimmer?
It’s difficult to pick just one most memorable thing since we do so many great things here at the Zimmer. If I look back at this year something that really stands out is participating in the LA Marathon 5K to raise money for the museum and our programs including youTHink. This event stands out because I had a chance to talk to so many people and tell them why the Zimmer and youTHink were important to me personally. It gave me a chance to bond with my coworkers, get to know our visitors better, and I had a great time running in the rain with so many dedicated people! I’m looking forward to fund raising and running again this year in March. If you want to donate to my cause you can do so here. You can make my first donation for this upcoming year!! 
Thanks, Sasha! Stay tuned for our next spotlight!
Random Act of Kid-ness: Re-Gifting to Children in Need
In light of the tragedy in Connecticut this morning, we think it is more appropriate than ever for our weekly Random Act of Kid-ness that highlights the kindness of humanity.
This week’s RAK is another from generationOn and Hasbro’s “Be a Joy Maker” campaign. We want to highlight Raymond, who submitted this act of kindness:
“At the age of 4, I was diagnosed with a rare hp disease that left me in a double leg brace for two years. Feeling fortunate that my illness was not life threatening, I decided that I had to do something for the kids that I left behind in the hospital. So I took all my christmas gifts and returned to the hospital I spent time in and to uplift the spirits of the kids that were not coming home for the holidays. After I saw the joy on the faces of the kids, I decided to continue doing this work. I went door to door asking friends, family and neighbors for donations so I can purchase new toys for the sick kids. My efforts became so popular that we had to form a foundation.”
Raymond’s generosity is so inspiring, especially in times of tragedy. How do you show kindness to those in your community?
We also want to congratulate Hasbro and generationOn for topping their 100,000 goal for acts of service and donated toys! With a week to go!
Random Act of Kid-ness: Adventure generationOn Kids Care Club
Continuing with our support of Hasbro’s “Be a Joy Maker” campaign, this week’s Random Act of Kid-ness is one submitted to the campaign and comes to us from St. Louis, MO. 4th and 5th grade students in the Adventure generationOn Kids Care Club operated and facilitated a penny drive that raised $230.00. With the money, the students bought toys to donate to the Toys for Tots Foundation. Not only is this an incredible act of kindness, but it also taught the students about the value of a dollar.
We encourage you to read more of the entries on the Joy Makers Wall and even submit your own act of kindness!
Again, please share with the Zimmer what you’ve done! While we encourage selfless acts, we also think that we can inspire each other! Any story we hear just might be featured in our next Random Act of Kid-ness post!
