GeorgeMasonUniversityChildDevelopmentCenter

Humanitarian Project

Teaching Children to Care for Others

The Story of the Grandfather, the Child, and the Starfish

The elderly grandfather was walking on the beach with his young grandson. As they walked, the grandson would periodically stop to pick up beached starfish and toss them back into the ocean. The grandfather leaned towards his grandchild and said, “My child, your gesture is touching but will make no difference. Do you know how wide the oceans are, how vast the number of beaches, and how numerous are the starfish that become trapped on the shore?” The child looked up as he prepared to toss yet another starfish back into the ocean and said, “Yes, grandfather, but it sure makes a difference to this one!”

Last year, as part of our curriculum about friendship and caring for others, the ChildDevelopmentCentercollected school supplies for Native American Children in New Mexico .The response to the program was overwhelming. This year we have been asked to participate again and so we are asking families to voluntarily participate in this program with us. We are working with an organization called Christ for Native Youth/NAIM. This is the same group we worked with last year. This organization provides assistance to Native American families. Although they are a religious group, we will not be participating on a religious basis; rather we are participating on a humanitarian level.

Many of the children we will be helping live in poverty. NAIM will give any supplies received to parents who are in need of assistance to provide for their children. Most of the children live in bi-lingual situations with Navajo and English, a few may also speak Spanish. Many cannot read at their age level. Some houses on the Reservations where the children live do not have electricity or running water. Parents struggle to provide the necessities for their families. The gift of school supplies would be very special to these families, who cannot afford to purchase them for their children.

If you would like to participate, please bring your supplies to your child’s classroom and place them in the collection box. The collection will run until the first week of September, but our first shipment will be sent in the middle of August.

Thank you,

Miss Tina

Suggestions for Donations:

Crayons/Markers Back-packs

Scissors Gift Cards (for us to purchase supplies for you, or to send)

Notebooks Pencil Sharpeners

Dictionaries Folders

Pencils/Pens Calculator

Pencil Case Donations for Shipping Costs

Glue Sticks/Glue Rulers or any other supplies you feel would be appropriate