Posted by Gabe on January 23, 2011 under Facebook, Kids are Heroes | 
In celebration of the fact that our new radio show was quickly promoted to a full hour, we are going to start something new. We would like to involve our Facebook fans in the shaping of the show. Each week we will select the top two best questions as submitted on our Facebook page. These questions will be answered by MaryMargaret on the show. The questions can be related to Kids Are Heroes or not. So if you think you have a good question that would really add to the show, post it up on our Facebook page. Questions posted here in the comments, via email or Twitter will not be considered.
The Kids Are Heroes radio show airs weekly on WBTN AM in Bennington, Vermont from 8AM-9AMEST. It does have a Listen Live feature so that virtually everyone can listen to it as it airs. The two guests for our 1/22 broadcast are heroes Daniel Dietz and Shannon McNamara. Hope you all can have coffee with us as we offer some truly inspiring conversations. Here is the link to listen to the show.
Posted by Gabe on January 19, 2011 under Kids are Heroes |
Well 2011 is starting off like a rocket for Kids Are Heroes. We couldn’t be more excited about it. One of the things we have been working on is to get on local radio stations around the country to help spread the word. MaryMargaret and I were invited by Brian Dempsey of WBTN AM in Vermont to do an interview. He liked it so much he asked us to do a half-hour weekly show on Saturday mornings. Wow! Talk about learning how to swim the hard way! After only one show, the big muckety-mucks of the station decided they wanted us to do a full hour! That starts on January 29th. (To listen live via the internet to our weekly show or to listen to previous shows and to see a schedule, visit this page.) Update: I was just asked to do an interview on the same station this Tuesday, Jan. 25th at 8:30AM EST. We are going to talk about our Saturday show. A radio show about a radio show. It’s all good!
On Tuesday, January 25, at 12PM EST, I will be live on Debbie Glickman’s Toginet Radio show. The show is called “Believe in Your Fairytale and Your Zing will Come True!” Well here’s hoping our “zing” comes true. Here is the link for that show.
More exciting news came the other night when we were invited to have a guest spot on Radio Disney (KMIC AM) in Houston Texas. As it was explained to me there are many affiliate stations around the country that carry the national feed of Radio Disney. According to Lauren our interviewer, “Each market then has a public affairs program that airs weekly. This is the only local show in each market so its a very important show!” Our interview will be aired on April 3 as April is National Volunteer Month. Even though it is local, it is a 5000 watt station and we are very excited to be introduced to the folks in Houston.
So if you know of a radio show producer or are one we would love it if you would help us get the word about about what our kids are doing. I can’t say enough about how our kids are making so many positive impressions on kids around the world and getting them to take part in volunteer activities. It’s an amazing sight to see. And if you get time kindly support us by listening to our radio shows — even call in if you get the opportunity. We’d love to hear from you!
For an interview please contact us directly. All of our contact info is here. If you are a member of the press, please visit our press box.
BREAKING NEWS!!! Thanks to one of our Facebook fans who read this blog post, it was suggested to us to look up a Sirius/XM station called KidsPlace LIVE. I checked out their Facebook page and sent off an email. Turns out their music director really loves what we are doing and he invited us to come in THIS SATURDAY (Jan 29) to their studios in Washington DC for a LIVE interview!!! So right after we finish our own show we are headed down to DC. So, if you are one of their 700,000 listeners, please tune in to “Robbie Schaefer’s Bandwagon” show from 10AM-2PM EST on Channel 116! Thanks Danica!!
Update 2/1/11: Our interview with Robbie was a lot of fun and brought awareness to a whole new audience. We put another message out on our Facebook page and landed yet another interview this time with an up and coming radio host named Christopher Gabriel out of Fargo, North Dakota. Our appearance on his show is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb 8 at 2PM EST. Go to wday.com to listen live!!
We are so thankful for the people that are helping us land these interviews. The more people that know about us the more we can have a positive influence on.
Posted by Gabe on January 1, 2011 under Kids are Heroes |
Help Us Tip it Over!
You may have heard me speak about our cart. It is something we continue to fill up with the hopes that it will tip over soon. When it tips over, that means that Kids Are Heroes will go viral and we will be able to affect millions of families instead of just hundreds and maybe thousands. This is one of our most important goals. Here are some things that are in our cart right now:
- MaryMargaret was featured as a role model by Discovery Girls Magazine for their 10th anniversary issue which will be out in June.
- Just completed a letter writing campaign to 153 celebrities in hopes of having one or two of them take up our cause.
- Local production company just finished filming two of our heroes so they can shop an ongoing documentary to various TV networks.
- Scheduled an upcoming video conferencing session which will provide a venue for 7 heroes and one kindergarten teacher to talk about Kids Are Heroes to various classrooms around the US and Canada. (This will happen on February 2.)
- MaryMargaret will be featured in new online magazine called “Luella Girl” in February 2011.
- We are promoting our availability for speaking engagements and radio interviews both in person and remotely. Our first radio interview of 2011 will air on WBTN-AM radio in Vermont on January 8.
Update 01/08/11: Due to the success of the interview on WBTN, we were asked to co-host the Recognition Radio show every Saturday morning through the end of March! This is a HUGE thing to add to our cart. To listen to our premiere episode, and stay tuned each week, visit our Radio Page.
We have recently been told of a periodical geared towards producers of TV and radio shows. It is a magazine that provides great stories and people to interview. We feel that this is a very efficient way of telling radio and TV producers about us. We are looking to raise $1800 to place three half-page ads in this magazine in early 2011. This could do wonders for our cart and who knows, in the end might be just enough to tip it over. (To donate to this cause, please click here.)
A Call to Action
When I was doing research on some of the celebrities we wanted to target I came across an interview with Don Shula, former coach of the Miami Dolphins. He said, “When you have a charity you can only do so much on your own. In order to survive you have to have support.” Truer words have not been said. If you believe in what we are doing, I am asking for your support right now. The radio interview mentioned above goes into details about some of the things we are working on that require support from you and others just like you.
Please help us tip the cart over by getting more radio and TV interviews. If you cannot support us financially, become an ambassador and help us with fund raising and awareness. This organization gives back exponentially as every single day I am inspired by what these kids are doing. One of our ambassadors recently told me, “You have six-year-olds that have already done more than some adults have in their lifetime.” These kids are inspiring children from all over the world to get involved. By getting the word out to more (and more, and more) families, we all can have a great impact and feel wonderful doing it.
Posted by Gabe on February 3, 2010 under Kids are Heroes |
Have you ever been involved with something that made you feel like you were the snowball at the top of the hill and someone just gave you a push? That’s how I feel right about now. I was recently approached by someone who asked me if I would consider a partnership. Now I am starting to get these requests all the time. I’m certainly not complaining, but some of the “partners” see our social media numbers and picture nothing but opportunity for them. I was naturally guarded at first. However, it didn’t take long for me to figure out that Mary, this new contact, was genuine and smart, and that this relationship could greatly benefit the both of us. Mary works with Levar Fisher, who after a stellar stint as an all-pro linebacker at NC State (Go Wolfpack!!), enjoyed a career in the NFL as he played for the Arizona Cardinals and the New Orleans Saints. Unfortunately for him, at the age of 27 he had a career ending knee injury. “Unfortunate” is how many would view this situation. Not Levar. He sees this as a godsend. “I was a check writer when I was in the NFL” Levar told me. “If people needed money for charity, I was happy to write them a check. But don’t ask me to appear at your function. I’m not comfortable with that.” Levar laughs when he looks back because now this is his livelihood. And boy is he happy doing it! Levar travels around the country as a motivational speaker. He speaks to all ages, but his true love is when he gets to speak to kids. He speaks of choices that face our youth, and encourages them to make the right ones. In high school he was bullied because as he puts it, he was “fat and slow”. “I’m going to be in the NFL!” he would tell people. “Levar, you’re crazy!! You’re way too fat for the NFL – you can’t even play for our high school football team!” his peers would tell him as they laughed and joked. Rather than let this ridicule beat him down, Levar was actually motivated by those disparaging remarks. In his sophomore year in high school he was the best player on the varsity team. He received a full scholarship to NC State. And you know the rest. “Don’t EVER let anyone tell you you can’t achieve your dream!” Levar tells kids.
In 2002 while just entering the NFL Levar founded a non-profit organization called “Fisher of Men”, which provide resources and opportunities for youth inspiring good decision-making and boosting self confidence. Levar is currently embarking on his brand new ”Believe Again 2010″ tour that will have him traveling the country speaking to kids of all ages. In addition to his usual message he will be telling stories of the kids on the Kids Are Heroes web site and what they have accomplished. This fits right in with his confidence building speech. He will be telling kids all over the country that they too can affect change by emulating the children on our site. I am so excited about this relationship as this is the kind of boost we need. But I wouldn’t enter in an arrangement like this just because someone wanted me to. For me the final test before we sealed this partnership was that Levar had to sincerely believe in what we are doing. During one of our conversations as he was recounting some of the heroes’ stories back to me I could tell he was full of excitement and anticipation. I sat back and listened as all of a sudden paused and said, “This can change the world!” That’s when I knew this partnership would work.
When I first watched a tape of Levar speaking, I immediately sought out our local Toastmasters club as he made me realize how much improvement I need to gain as an accomplished speaker. For forty minutes he was fluid and eloquent, with no need for notes of any kind. And when I heard the speech he gave to a large group of kids I was even more excited. He engaged them and they hung on his every word. They laughed and giggled at his jokes. He is intelligent, funny and very pleasant to listen to. He was able to keep their undying attention for the entire time.
If you are an educator I would highly suggest calling Levar and having him speak at your school or kids’ group. He can be reached through his web site. I look forward to witnessing the fruit that is borne from this relationship, and I just can’t wait to see what happens next!
Posted by Gabe on January 28, 2010 under Kids are Heroes |
I was just told a story by someone close to me who would like to remain anonymous. The identity of the person doesn’t really matter, because the story itself is what is important. We will call our hero Mischa.
The weather has been bitterly cold around these parts the last few weeks. About a week ago, Mischa spied a homeless woman outside, legs exposed, who appeared to be suffering from the cold. Mischa thought, “I wish there was something I could give her!” Not wanting to be faced with that circumstance again, Mischa went off to the thrift store and bought some sleeping bags and blankets to carry around in the car with her, in case she became faced with that same situation in the future.
Today was Mischa’s day to go to the library. As she was leaving she discovered three homeless people keeping warm inside. She has noticed them in the past as they come in to use the facilities and get out of the cold for a couple of hours. Mischa asked “Does anyone need an extra blanket or a sleeping bag?” All three said yes. So Mischa went out to the car and brought two blankets and a sleeping bag back to these people who were very grateful.
When Mischa relayed the story to me she told me that she didn’t know if it was right to feel this way but she felt really good after having done it. I told her that she had every right to feel good. Why wouldn’t you get a sense of warmth inside if you knew that you had just really helped someone? I’ve always felt that people should revel in that feeling because it will make them want to do it again.
So here is such a simple idea that can have a great impact on someone else’s life. Mischa pays $2.00 for “gently used” sleeping bags and blankets at the local thrift store. Keep them in your car and you never know when your day will be brightened by helping someone else.
Posted by Gabe on January 8, 2010 under Kids are Heroes |
When I first started blogging in July of ’08, Kids Are Heroes was in its infancy and I was still heavily involved with Wags for Hope, a local pet therapy organization. I wrote a blog post titled “Volunteer for Selfish Reasons“. It didn’t get much play since I wasn’t even on Twitter yet, but the sentiments behind the post still ring true. It may sound politically incorrect, but if people don’t get something in return for their volunteer time or for their financial donation, then they probably won’t keep doing it. As I write this I just saw a “tweet” coming through on my Twitter stream that read: “Volunteering is not a choice. It’s a responsibility.” Ashley E. Hyder was given the credit for that quote. Well I’m sorry Ashley, I couldn’t disagree with you more. As a matter of fact let me rephrase your quote to my liking: “Volunteering is not a choice. It’s a privilege.“ In my experience, if people feel they must volunteer, it will become a burden for them and they will stop doing it. I have always felt that if a person feels like they volunteer out of a sense of obligation then they are doing it for the wrong reasons and they won’t last. I am in my fifties now, and outside of a few years as a big brother I did nothing in the way of volunteering. Am I ashamed of it? Absolutely not. Do I feel guilty for the “selfish” life I led? Absolutely not. Do I think it’s other peoples’ duty to volunteer? Absolutely not.
So why the change for me? Why do I do it? The answer is because it changed my life for the much better. I remember the first time I brought my dog Charlie to a nursing home and he brought an ear-to-ear grin to a woman who had been paralyzed in an auto accident since 1984. The warmth that immediately surged through my body was indescribable. The pride I took in my best friend Charlie was unmatched. Do I get something out of volunteering? The answer is “every time I do it“.
So what about Kids Are Heroes? You might be asking “what can Kids Are Heroes offer my children? The stories are nice and heartwarming, but what do my kids gain from joining in?”
The answer is a better life. A much richer life experience, regardless of socio-economic status comes to those who volunteer. I came to realize this gradually as I heard back from featured children’s parents, and as I watch my own daughter develop. J.T. Robertson is one of our heroes from New York. His mom won’t mind (I hope) that I repeat the gist of a conversation we had recently by phone. She related to me that she lives in one of the poorest counties in New York. Kids in her neighborhood are overlooked because the general feeling is there is no hope for them. For a number of years now, J.T. has been raising funds so that disadvantaged children can enjoy something he treasures — a train ride on the Arcade and Attica Railroad. This event takes he and his mom all year to plan. That is not all thirteen-year-old J.T is involved with. He brings toys to the hospital and plays with the children, among other things. (See J.T.’s profile on the Kids Are Heroes site.) He speaks at events and one of his speaking points is the Kids Are Heroes web site. It’s not “look at the recognition I got” — it’s more ”look at what you can do and how it can affect others.” His mom flat out told me that Kids Are Heroes is a great opportunity for kids in this situation to rise above the statistics that plague them. His efforts got him on Good Morning America. As a child when you see the results that you are really helping others, it gives you the same feeling as if you were an adult — it’s a really good feeling that boosts self-confidence and develops leadership skills.
Want another selfish reason for your kids to become involved in KAH? So they can participate in events like this!
When my daughter MaryMargaret started our web site she was just nine years old. She is now twelve. She has been involved in many volunteering efforts in those three years, and she would join us at the nursing homes before that. She has learned to think outside of herself which is hard to do for many kids. She has gained respect and empathy for older people, and kids who are very sick. Her confidence has risen immeasurably due to the speeches she is asked to give about what she does. She has completed a year-long effort to raise money to buy MP3 players for kids at the Children’s Hospital in D.C. When she was just six, she spent a harrowing ten days there and thought that the gift of music will help that time go easier for these unfortunate kids. She purchased 250 MP3 players and delivered them to two area youth hospitals. What a sense of accomplishment she felt as it took her over a year to raise the money! Her latest project is called “Black to Blue”. She and two friends plan to raise $5000 to help clean the animals affected by the Gulf oil spill. The kids have planning meetings where tasks get delegated. This is encouraging teamwork. They plan to visit radio stations to enlist help. This will also boost their self confidence. There is a lot of research that needs to be done for this project. To be effective all three of the kids will have to know the facts. All three are very passionate about doing this which will also show in their presentations. There are just so many life lessons they will learn because of this project. Through her efforts she is becoming a true leader, as are many of the other children featured on our website.
So what does this all mean? Am I in this for the “wrong” reasons? Am I only passionate about Kids Are Heroes because of the benefit to my daughter? I would be lying if I said that part didn’t matter to me. Of course I am happy that her efforts will help her develop into a well rounded, socially responsible citizen. But I can’t ignore the other perks. One of them I just mentioned — it’s very heartening to know something we created has touched a boy like J.T. in such a way that he wants to tell others about it. I enjoy every opportunity we get in meeting the other wonderful kids and their families who are involved with KAH. I get that same warmth I described earlier when my daughter brings smiles to cancer-stricken children by bringing them Webkinz she paid for from the donations she collected. I get warm feelings every day when people encourage what we are doing. I get so much energy when I listen to the children explain what they are doing and why they are so passionate about it. I get a sense of hope dreaming about the global effect we will have some day.
So shouldn’t volunteering be a thankless activity? Shouldn’t we just do it without wanting anything in return? Maybe that works for some people, but not for me. As I have said before, I’m not that nice of a person.
So you say you’d like for your kids to be involved? We recommend that you sit down with them at the Kids Are Heroes web site and “Meet the Heroes“. Read their stories. You and your child will learn about children as they are changing the world. Suddenly your child will realize that they can do it too. It is generally not long after that when they discover their own passion to help. They will choose a project, selecting certain elements of other projects they have just read about, and with your guidance execute their plan. When they do, please let us know about them so we can feature them too.
Posted by Gabe on December 14, 2009 under Kids are Heroes |
This morning when I checked my Twitter feed I came across a particularly interesting question from my friend Eri. She asked me “What is your exciting plan for next year?”
Wow. What a great question. It’s not as if I haven’t thought about it, it’s just that noone has ever asked me that question before. I know that when you write things down more ideas come flowing out, so I decided to write a blog post about it.
Kids Are Heroes began in March of 2008, so we are just finishing up our second year. During that time we have featured close to 100 kids, had two Kids Are Heroes Days and been on Virgin Atlantic planes for one month, thanks to Sir Richard Branson. We have also created our first major project where we plan to involve kids from all over. I am happy with our progress, especially since we have become involved with social media. But at the moment we are still very small with big plans.
It is hard to develop exact timetables, especially when I know that there are so many unknowns. A lot of what we do will depend on what kind of financial help we can get. We are lucky to have a few business partners who support us but I would sure love to get a bunch more. :) Having said that plans are meant to be flexible, so let me at least speak to what we would like to do.
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Drill our first well with the help of kids out there who don’t have their own project. We still want to encourage kids to follow their own passions, but also want to offer an alternative. This will be done through
Project KAH2O.
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Develop other projects so kids can select among them.
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Secure our 501c3 status.
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Finish our business plan (will it ever be finished?).
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Provide funding for more kids to attend Kids Are Heroes Day in October.
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Feature at least 150 more kids.
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Start to provide web site development to help jump-start kids’ projects.
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Develop materials that can be sent to schools. This will include a video (already produced) explaining what we do at Kids Are Heroes along with added resources.
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Achieve mentions in several national media outlets.
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Start to travel the country to spead the word.
We have felt from the beginning that Kids Are Heroes is something that works in every community and hope it will eventually become a household word. Just the other night my 11-year-old daughter MaryMargaret received an email from a 12-year-old girl named Lily. She is just getting started in her project to “help the world in its desperate struggle to stop the pollution and clean up our mess.” She noted that MaryMargaret “had some experience” and could she “give me some advice”. This is another role we really hope to develop — to help nurture kids’ ideas and help them maintain their focus so they can follow through with their projects. You bet we are following up with Lily and watching her progress.
So, I welcome the next year and hope we can indeed accomplish many of those things. One thing I am sure of, we will certainly be writing about it along the way!
Posted by Gabe on November 9, 2009 under Kids are Heroes |
So, how many readers out there are envious of us right now as we start our fund raising journey with a brand new non-profit? Oh, I forgot to add: in this economy? Well this is something we do not cherish as I am sure most people do not. When I was president of Wags for Hope, and we asked for people to do fund raising, no hands ever went up. Currently my now 11-year-old daughter, my wife and I make up the entire Kids Are Heroes team. But somehow we must do it or our doors cannot remain open. We have a lot of plans on how we can effect change and that goes way beyond inspiration. (To see a list of our future plans, please visit here.) So how will we do it, especially with so many other established nonprofits competing for the same donations?
I’ve always been of the sort to try new things, and that is the way I believe we must effect our fund raising. Thankfully, I have had people approach me with their unique ideas. Our kids have inspired them so much that they want to help. Mary Kate of Mary Kate McKenna Photography approached us last week about wanting to do a fund raiser for us. She plans to take holiday pictures at an outdoor location for two days this coming weekend. She is offering a 15-minute session and your choice of two hi-res pictures for just $40.00, and the entire disk can be purchased for an additional $30. Families like ours simply cannot normally afford a photographer of her caliber, but you know we signed ourselves up for a slot! It is a great value and half the proceeds will go to Kids Are Heroes. We are so thankful for that. (As of this writing there are still a few slots available – if interested click here.) Now my head is spinning to see how I can tie in other similar services. This is a win-win situation as it is simply good business for Mary Kate to do this. UPDATE -11/18/09: Mary Kate raised a grand total of $890.00 for us during this event!! Thanks SO MUCH!!!
A Twitter friend who has also been following our progress for quite some time now has also come up with a different plan to help us financially. Zephora Haddon is a social entrepreneur who has extended a very generous offer to us. She owns a company called “Amber Alert Registry”. For every family that signs up and selects our organization as the beneficiary (it will be evident how to do that on her web site), her company will donate $5.00 to us on a quarterly basis. I have also been watching her progress at the same time and she is doing great things with her organization. Those numbers can add up to a significant revenue stream for us as time progresses. To explain what Zephora’s company does, I will use her own words: “Amber Alert Registry is a secure online database that captures key information on children for parents to be empowered to disseminate the information in an emergency – whether your child goes missing, has a medical emergency, or legal or personal information needs to be on hand for caregivers and parents. We support parents living without fear, but with tools to protect their family and assist law enforcement from anywhere in the world. We have babies to university students registered, and new schools signing up every day.“ So please check it out and if you do sign up your family kindly select Kids Are Heroes as your charity of choice. Thanks so much, Zephora!!
We also plan to sell Kids Are Heroes branded items in our store to help offset costs. Currently we do have wrist bands and piggy banks available. (Great stocking stuffers!!)
UPDATE - 11/09/09: As a response to this post I was contacted by Christy Mossburg who just happens to be the mom of our very own Mandy Mossburg. (See Mandy’s Kids Are Heroes bio here.) Christy is also an Arbonne consultant. For the unaware, Arbonne makes all kinds of skin products for women. They likely do more than that, but you probably already know that too. For the entire month of November, Christy will give 100% of her commissions for all sales if you purchase from her web site, provided you put the letters “KAH” in the middle name. Even if you have trouble ordering from the site itself, you may contact Christy directly and order through her. If you mention Kids Are Heroes then she will still donate all her commissions to us as long as it is done by the end of the month! This couldn’t come at a better time since the holidays are coming up. So you can get your shopping done and know that you have helped a charity at the same time. Thanks Christy!!
I would be interested in hearing any other different ideas you might have. If you have a business that wants to help us in some way, we will be glad promote you in our Businesses section as we have others. We have seen first hand how we have affected people, both kids and adults alike. We are changing people’s lives by opening up a whole new world of philanthropy to people who may have never discovered it. With your help, we can continue to do that. Oh, and if you would like to chip in to the cause, you can do that here. Thank you.
