children

Guest blogger - Karine Aviv

Last week I had the pleasure of volunteering in my daughter's grade 5 class at Nellie McClung Elementary School in Calgary, for a fundraiser for the Conquer Cancer Foundation.  It was very touching to see all the kids in her classroom so excited about the event, and to see the rest of the school participate.

When my daughter stuffed her brand-new Pegasus figurine into her backpack before school one morning, I knew it was a horrible mistake.

You’ve probably heard your parents say, “if you save up enough money to buy your first car, I’ll match you.” So, what would happen if the same was said for giving? What if what you donated was matched by a charity? TOMS – a company that makes shoes does just that. For every pair of TOMS bought, one pair will be donated to a child in need. You may be asking yourself: now what kind of business model is this? Right…that’s exactly what I thought. Can this really be a business that’s focus isn’t on the bottom line, but instead on helping those less fortunate?  Read more »

I volunteer at my daughter’s school. Sometimes when I’m sharpening pencils or making sock puppets, I wonder if this is really how I’m meant to change the world. Then I picture the mayhem of 30+ Kindergarteners trying to sharpen their pencils at once, and my work feels purposeful, meaningful. Call it the butterfly effect. Read more »

We pulled up to the coffee shop just as the latest news about Haiti came on the radio. Normally, my daughter wouldn’t be listening. She’d be daydreaming, watching cars go by. But I stopped, held breathless by the story of a man waiting for medical help for one of his daughters. His other little girl was already dead.

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My daughter has a strange attachment to things. It startles me whenever it rears its adorable (nothing she does is ugly) head.

Since my daughter was born, we’ve been both the recipients and givers of many clothes to and from many different homes. It’s a karma-based system whereby you may not be giving hand-me-downs to the same family you get them from.

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Installation celebrating childhood around the world to tell the same story and confirm a universal truth: We are all connected.  This connection is where true and believable healing begins.

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