Hi! Our names are
Ryan and Natalie. We are two and three years old. We are best friends.
We play together every day at our daycare. We both like Jackie. We are
too small to watch his movies, but Lisa, who takes care of us, tells us
about all the fun stuff Jackie does and we color Buddy Bears for him all
the time. We made him Christmas and birthday cards too. We have pictures
of Jackie holding them up on our bulletin board at daycare. We like looking
at the pictures a lot. It makes us happy.
One day, Lisa told us how a lot of kids lost their houses and schools
when a tsunami came. We learned a tsunami is a big wave where the water
is really high. The water breaks things and can take them away. We saw
pictures of places where the houses were all gone. Lots of kids were sad
that their houses and schools were gone. Then, Lisa showed us pictures
of Jackie with kids who need help. She told us he was trying to get money
for kids who need new schools and houses. And he’s trying to get
money for new books for them. There are kids who need medicine too. So
we’re going to help Jackie help those kids!
First, we took all our pictures of Jackie helping kids and put them on
a poster. Lisa put the words on, then we put a lot of sparkly stickers
on. We like the star and smiley face stickers the best. They are really
shiny and fun. We made a really cool poster. When we were done, we put
it up at the daycare so everyone could see it and see how Jackie is helping
to get kids new schools and stuff.
Next, we found a big jar. It’s a jar you can see through and it has
a lid. Lisa cut a hole in the lid big enough to put money into. We put
pictures of Jackie helping UNICEF on the jar. But we didn’t cover
the whole thing. We want to be able to see through it. You know why? We
are going to fill the jar with money! We want to be able to see when it
is full to the top! Then we will send the money to Jackie so he can help
the kids get new schools and houses. (Note: we will actually send the
money to UNICEF, but the kids always say we are going to send it to Jackie.)
Our jar is already half full of money. We have a bowl that people put
money into and then we get to put the money into the jar. Our mommies
and daddies have brought money for us to put in the jar. Some of our other
friends at daycare have therapists (that’s a type of teacher) come
help them learn things. They have given us money to put in the jar too.
It’s starting to get so heavy that both of us had to hold it so we
could have our picture taken with it.
We are very proud of our poster and show it to everyone who comes to the
house. And we love putting money in the jar. We will be very happy when
it is full and we can send it to Jackie. Then some of the kids who lost
their schools and houses can be happy.
WHEN JACKIE SAW THIS STORY, HE WAS SO IMPRESSED THAT HE ALERTED THE HONG KONG NEWSPAPERS:
Update to this story:
Jackie Continues to Help Kids Help Other Kids
The story continues! It started with Natalie and Ryan and now another kid is following Jackie's lead.
Alec is 10 years old. He comes to the daycare to play with Natalie, Ryan, and the other kids a couple of times a month. Unfortunately, he was not at daycare the day the UNICEF poster was made and the money jar started. Recently, he was looking at the poster and talking to me about raising money to help Jackie help other kids. Alec was very excited about it. He counted all the money that had been collected in the money jar so far. $67!! It's surprising how people's pocket change that they throw in the jar can add up. From previous discussions about Hong Kong, Alec remembered that American money transfers into more Hong Kong money. So he figured out how much money $67 would be in Hong Kong- About $520. Then he told me, "If I put the money I get for helping you with the daycare into the jar, that would be about $80 more Hong Kong dollars!" I suggested he just put half his salary in the jar, so he would still have some for himself. "No, no! I'm putting the whole thing in!" And he did. At the end of the day, he took ten one-dollar bills, his entire day's salary, and put it in the UNICEF collection jar.
Jackie's young fans are amazing. They should be very proud of themselves, as I'm sure Jackie is very proud of them himself.
|
Ryan working on the poster. |
Natalie working on the poster. |
Ryan and Natalie with their poster and donation jar. |
Alec counts the UNICEF change. |
Alec adds his salary to the jar. |
