|
|
August 20, 2004/Elul 3 5764, Vol. 56, No.48
Girl sets goal to raise $10k for children's charity
BETH OLSON
Special to Jewish News
Ten-year-old Rachel Finkelstein is a big fan of actress/pop star Hilary Duff.
While being a fan of the teen star may not be unusual for a girl her age, the results of her admiration are.
Last November, Rachel had plans to go to Duff's concert. She told her mom that she wanted to bring flowers or a stuffed animal to her idol, but her mom, An- drea Finkelstein, suggested Rachel's money could be better spent with a donation to Duff's favorite charity. With her mom's promise to match any amount she donated, Rachel researched the charities Duff works with and raided her piggy bank to come up with $125, which resulted in a $250 donation to Kids with a Cause, a charity run by celebrity children to benefit disadvan-taged youth.
Before the concert, several of Duff's friends were signing autographs for fans, says Rachel, and she told one of them she had the check for Kids with a Cause. Before she knew it, Rachel was being hoisted on stage by Duff's mother, Susan Duff, because Hilary wanted to meet her.
Rachel's experience meeting Duff had such a big impact on her, that when she woke up the morning after the concert, she told her mom that she wanted to give more to Kids with a Cause.
"How much more?" asked Andrea.
"$10,000," replied Rachel.
While Andrea was surprised - and doubtful that Rachel could meet her goal - she decided she should do whatever she could to support Rachel.
"Why should I be the one to judge and say she can't do it?" says Andrea. "If she wants to make a difference like this, I'd rather her feel that she should be able to set big goals."
And so Rachel and her mother founded their own nonprofit organization, Kid by Kid Children's Charities, to work toward Rachel's goal of donating $10,000 to Kids with a Cause.
So began the "Give 5 - Get 10 - Ask 20" campaign. The program asks participants to give $5 of their own money, to tell 10 friends about the program in the hopes of getting them involved, and to ask 20 adults to donate to the cause. Any child who completes all the steps, no matter how much money they collect, is eligible to win the program's grand prize, a personal telephone call from Duff and a trip to Los Angeles to participate in a Kids with a Cause charity event.
"There are probably other kids who have these feelings of wanting to help," says Andrea. "I wanted to come up with a way that could make every child who participated feel good."
Because of Rachel's work for Kids with a Cause, she was given VIP treatment at the organization's annual fund-raising event, where she not only got to hang out backstage with Duff, but was invited to talk about her work on stage in front of a crowd that included her favorite Disney Channel stars.
Despite her nervousness -"It felt like I was on Tower of Terror (a ride at Disneyland Resort's California Ad-venture)" - Rachel was able to talk about her work to the attendees.
Rachel attends Laguna Elementary School, and along with mom Andrea, lives with her father, Mark, and her brothers, Michael and Sammy, both 7.
Kid by Kid has collected about $1,100 to date. Rachel hopes to reach her $10,000 goal by the end of the year.
Andrea's goal is to not spend any of the money collected by the children on administrative costs or prizes and is looking for organi-zations to sponsor various aspects of the program. Contact her at andrea@kidbykid.org.
For more information about Kid by Kid, visit www.kidbykid.org, or e-mail Rachel at rachel@kidbykid.org. For more information about Kids with a Cause, visit www.kids-withacause.com.
|
|
