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I am entering the Name Your Dream Assignment contest sponsored by Lenovo and Microsoft. In this contest people describe what their dream photo assignment would be and, if they win, are given up to $50,000 to make it happen. The winner doesn’t get to keep any of the money. It all goes to making their dream a reality, up to $50.000.

Here’s my idea:

YOUNG PHILANTHROPISTS

I want to show kids that they can make a difference in the world, make them aware of different causes through the stories of other children and give them a way to help.

I would like to visit children and their families who have benefited from the help of charitable organizations. I want to document what their lives were like before and what they’re like now, after receiving the help they needed.

I’ll use the pictures and stories I’ve gathered to create a gift catalog that people can give to their children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, friend’s kids – any kid they know, or even those they don’t know. This catalog will be a kid friendly book full of colorful pictures and stories about life in other countries. It will show where other children sleep, what they eat, who takes care of them what games they play and what toys they play with. They’ll see, without being told, that these other children’s lives are different than theirs, harder.

American kids aren’t selfish and uncaring. They’re just so far removed from the suffering in much of the world that it’s hard for them to comprehend how much different life is in other places. They don’t understand how lucky they are to have been born here. Not lucky because they have mp3 players, video games and computers, but because they have a family to care for them, a solid roof over their heads, a soft place to sleep, clean water to drink and a full belly. All things many children don’t have.

I know American kids will be excited to help other children when they understand the problems, and that they can make a difference.

I don’t want to make them feel guilty that they have so much. And this won’t be a book that says, “Look at how poor and sad this kid is. You should feel bad for him.” Many of the differences aren’t bad really, just different. They will be told, though, that there are some basic needs these children aren’t getting. Maybe there is no clean water in her village or his family can’t afford the books he needs to go to school. Suddenly these aren’t grown up causes; they’re children, just like them.

Included in the price of each book will be a gift certificate that the child can spend on whichever cause touches them the most. When they make their choice that money will be forwarded on to the appropriate organization. Later, the child will receive a thank you card with pictures showing how their gift was used. They’ll be able to see how they changed the life of another child thousands of miles away.

Can you imagine the adults these children will grow up to be if they learn at a young age how great it feels to help someone else? And if they understand early on that, even when we don’t have everything we want, compared to most of the world, we have so much? This project won’t just be impacting children in far away lands, it will be impacting children right here.

So here’s what I need from you.

First,  vote for my idea by clicking on the link or on the big black button on the right. When you get to the site click “Pic It” to the left of the title.

Please vote as soon as you can. The top ideas have already had a few days to gather votes so it’s really important that I get a lot of votes quickly.  I need move into the top 10 so more people will see my idea and vote for it.

They will require you to register on the site. After you register they’ll send you a confirmation email with a link that you have to click on to confirm that it really was you that registered. THEN log in, come back here and click on this link again and vote!

Second, please forward this post to everyone you know. I mean everyone – family, friends, coworkers, hairdresser, babysitter, kid’s friends (or their parents) soccer parents, people from church, neighbors… Just click the “share This” button at the bottom of this post. You can even write down the website so you can give it to people you see during the day but don’t email.

If I can manage to stay in the top 20 until April 3rd my idea will be presented to the judges who will determine the winner. This is such a great opportunity to make a huge difference.

THANKS!

What are you still doing here? VOTE!