Friday, March 25, 2011

My Kids Save the World


Ok - perhaps a slight exaggeration.
I will readily admit that sometimes my kids drive me nuts.  Conversely, I’m sure I drive them nuts as well.  I know I drive my wife nuts.  Ah .. the circle of life.

However, my kids both have big hearts and a strong desire to do good for the world, and they actually act on that desire to help in ways that make me very proud.  With all of the coverage of the tragedy in Japan, they recently came to me and my wife wanting to know how they could help.  We suggested they think of how they could use the abundance of activities to which we cart them on a daily basis to raise funds to send for relief.  My son starts a twice-weekly swimming clinic this weekend, so after some creative and highly complex alternative ideas, they settled on raising money via a ‘swimathon’.  They would contact friends and family and ask them to pledge a per-lap amount, up to 100 laps, and then donate the collected money to the Red Cross.  Sounded like a good plan to us, so we gave them some ideas of how to spread the word and set them loose on the interwebs.

In less than a week they’ve managed to pull together a collective sponsorship of $2.00 per lap, so if they hit their 100 lap goal they will have raised $200 to help Japan recover from the devastation of the earthquake/tsunami.  In their world a lap is the same as the length of the pool.  When I get back to swimming for cross-training this summer I think I’ll do laps in their world.

The swimathon is tomorrow, and I’ll be in charge of the photography for the ‘event’.  I love that they wanted to do this, and I really love that they acted on it and will follow through and make it happen.  I could learn a little something from them about turning good intentions into reality.

14 comments:

  1. Congratulations to your kids for the ingenuity and caring hearts!

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  2. Fantastic! You should be very proud :)

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  3. Lovely story! All the best to them.

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  4. Awesome. And the fact that they even wanted to do this definitely speaks volumes about how they are being raised! Well done!

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  5. If everyone had kids like yours the world would be a much better place!

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  6. of course your kids drive you nuts, that's their job. not to worry though.. by the time they reach 21, they will adore and hang on to your every word. :)

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  7. That is awesome Chris. What great kids you have! I grew up swimming competitively and did swimathons MULTIPLE times growing up. Reading about your kids doing it makes me miss it a lot!

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  8. Amazing. I'm quite certain that you're an amazing dad to turn out such amazing kids... :)

    And I've been so out of the blog loop...just catching up...and so relieved to read through your posts that all looks to be well with the thyroid scare! I'm sure anxiety does not begin to cover it...

    And it looks like the build-up to the build-up is going nicely... ;)

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  9. excellent. in our home, the kiddos often lead the way as well. great job Dad.

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  10. Your children are doing a wonderful thing for the people of Japan. They are amazing!

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  11. What? That is just too cool. I am very impressed. Congrats to you and your wife for raising awesome kids. Congrats to your kids for being awesome.

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  12. This is especially impressive given that donations for the Japan tragedies (plural because there's more than one going on) lag waaaaaay behind donations to other countries that experienced similar tragedies. Apparently, the Japanese are victims of their own success - people tend to think they need the help less than folks in less stable (or "developed" - I hate that word in this context, but there it is) countries do.

    So kudos to your kids, brother! Because EVERYONE needs a helping hand, now and then.

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  13. That is so cool that they are doing that! I hope they meet their goal :)

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