Sunday, January 25, 2009

Hope for Henry Answers President Obama's Call to Service

To honor the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and President Obama's and the First Lady's call to service, on Monday, January 20, dozens of children in Washington, DC shopped for birthday party goodies and packed birthday parties-in-a-box so that hospitalized children can have wonderful birthday celebrations on their special day. These boxes are being delivered this week to two Ronald McDonald Houses in Philadelphia where we are offering It's Your Birthday from Hope for Henry.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Giving Back to Hope for Henry

Below is an inspirational story of one boy giving back to Hope for Henry as told by his wonderful mom. Matthew was assigned a "holiday" math assignment in school. They had to go on a holiday "shopping spree" in honor of a charity. The spree was obviously not real -- but was based on locating items and prices in catalogs, circulars, or magazines.

There were some ground rules:
(1) they had $1,000 to spend
(2) they had to include 7% sales tax (they've been studying decimals this year)
(3) they had to purchase 10-20 items (no more, no less)
(4) they had to spend at least $975.00; but no more than $1,000.00 (including tax).
(5) the items selected had to be appropriate for the charity selected; and
(6) they had to put together a report, including an introduction, cut and pasted pictures of the items and their prices, and a creative artwork cover (Matthew's front cover was in the shape and design of an iPod).

Matthew selected Hope for Henry as his charity and spent $978.72 on 15 items -- including an iPod, superhero toys, a digital camera, and a DVD player. He would not part with the final report, but his introduction and tally pages are featured on this site.

After completing this project, Matthew and I decided that it would be a wonderful holiday gift to make this "mock" shopping spree a reality. Accordingly, I have made an on-line donation of $979.00 in honor of Henry, Matthew's project, and your wonderful advice and wise words over the last few years. Matthew is hoping that some other kids will receive some wonderful gifts -- like the iPod that never leaves his side.