Random Act of Kid-ness: Local Kids Helping a Classmate in Need

This week’s Random Act of Kid-ness comes to us all the way from… less than a mile away! When 18 year old Fairfax High student Jose Chojolan became paralyzed from the neck down, his fellow high school classmates stepped in to help. Jose’s family is now faced with incredible medical expenses and an apartment that is not wheelchair accessible. “Jose’s Soldiers,” as one teacher calls them, have raised over $80,000 for his family through various fundraisers, like one at the Hollywood Chick-fil-A. Student Mirna Cabrera says:

“Jose is a person who was perfect, who had his whole future ahead of him and it just happened. We’re all here for the cause. We love to support. We’re a very united school.”

Read more about Jose and the Fairfax High School student fundraisers, and find out how you can help here.

Random Act of Kid-ness: A Whole Bunch of Kind Kids!

For this week’s Random Act of Kid-ness, we are not just highlighting one good deed, but a whole list of them. Earlier this week, St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital announced the winners of its annual campaign, Kids are Heroes, for kids ages 5-18.

This year’s winners include children who have: sold gum to raise money for a family whose house had burned down, rescued another child from drowning, and donated books to underprivileged students.

Click here to learn more about these and other winners of the Kids are Heroes campaign!

Random Act of Kid-ness: Saving Grandma’s Home

This week’s Random Act of Kid-ness comes to us from Wisconsin, where 12 year old Noah Lamaide raised $10,500.00 to save his grandma’s home from foreclosure. When his grandma Janice fell short on her
mortgage payments, Noah stepped in and posted on his website about how much his grandma deserved support:

“My Grandma incase you don’t know her has a heart of gold. She has given so much to our community since I can remember!!!” 

He asked for donations to help save her home from being taken away, and people listened!

Philanthropy is not new to Noah, though. When he was only 9 years old, his mom challenged him to do one community service project every year. Noah has given donations to food banks and even raised money for a trip to Disneyland for his family friend who had cancer. Noah is truly an inspirational kid.

Read more about Noah’s random acts of kindness here.

Do you know a kid who has done or is doing random acts of kindness? Let us know!

Random Act of Kid-ness: Paintings that Pay Off (Medical Bills)

This week’s Random Act of Kid-ness comes to us from Missouri, where 3 year old Liam Myrick has started to sell his paintings to help pay for his parents’ $500,000 medical bills.

Liam was diagnosed with stage-four Neuroblastoma in July, and his sister battled with cancer the year before. Now, Liam wants to help his parents with their financial burden by using the energy he has to paint. His parents are auctioning Liam’s work on Facebook to subsidize the medical bills.

Liam’s mom Shawna says,

“He doesn’t care about what’s going to happen ten minutes from now. He cares about the moment.”

What an inspiring story of one kid trying to make the world a better place for his family. Read more about Liam’s story and how you can buy one of his paintings here.

Random Act of Kid-ness: Cooper’s House

This week’s Random Act of Kid-ness comes from Central Kentucky, home of our Museum Director, Julee Brooks. Read what Julee has to say about Cooper’s house below:

I was completely inspired by this story of a 3 year old little boy in Lexington, KY who is (along with a supportive family and neighbors and the power of Facebook) building awareness about the lives of families and their children who have special needs and about the fundamental power of play in every child’s development.

Cooper Veloudis’s family, by his therapist’s request, built a playhouse in their backyard for him to play and practice life skills that are challenging to a child with Cerebral Palsy. Due to at least one neighbor complaint, the neighborhood HOA asked the family to remove it and levied fines until they did. Cooper’s mother, Tiffiney, took the story public and within a week, a Facebook page in support of the little house garnered almost 6,000 fans and the story received significant media attention locally and nationally. The HOA has delayed a final decision until January but what’s already amazing is this little boy and his playful spirit’s incredible ability to unite a neighborhood, a community (and supporters as far as SoCal) and bring attention to the needs of thousands of other children as well.

I for one hope Cooper gets to keep his house – and that every child has a place to play that they feel is their own.

Julee Brooks
Museum Director

For more information about Cooper’s House, visit the Facebook page.

—————

“Once you begin to acknowledge random acts of kindness – both the ones you have received and the ones you have given – you can no longer believe that what you do does not matter.” -Dawna Markova 

Random Act of Kid-ness: “Sewing Threads of Hope”

For this week’s Random Act of Kid-ness, we look to Manhattan, where 12 year old Quillyn Smith won an essay contest about kids doing good deeds. In her essay, Quillyn wrote about how she sews quilts for children in a Chinese orphanage. She was adopted from China when she was just 16 months old, and now her new sister will be adopted from China as well.

“I made the quilt for my sister who is four now and we’re adopting her from China this fall so I thought it would be helpful and neat to make baby quilts for the other kids in the orphanage,” ‘Quillyn told 13 News. She says the quilt take hours to complete and she’s been taking sewing lessons. The quilts are meant to keep the kids warm and comfortable in the orphanage but also let them know that someone is thinking about them.

Read more about Quillyn and her quilts here.

—————

“Once you begin to acknowledge random acts of kindness – both the ones you have received and the ones you have given – you can no longer believe that what you do does not matter.” -Dawna Markova 

Random Act of Kid-ness: Animated Heroes

In light of the passing of Steve Jobs earlier this week, today’s Random Act of Kid-ness is not about a specific kid, but about some of Pixar’s heroes.

Click here to see a wonderful slide show of these animated heroes from the Baltimore Sun. From Monsters Inc.’s Sully to Wall-E to Toy Story’s Woody, many of Pixar’s most memorable characters are heroes that inspire kids to do good each and every day.

—————

“Once you begin to acknowledge random acts of kindness – both the ones you have received and the ones you have given – you can no longer believe that what you do does not matter.” -Dawna Markova