The act of donating money, goods, time, or effort to support a charitable cause, usually over an extended period of time and in regard to a defined objective. In a more fundamental sense, philanthropy may encompass any altruistic activity which is intended to promote good or improve human quality of life.

 

 

Open in 2007, American Family Children's would not exist without the hundreds of philanthropists, young and old, who shared their money, goods and time with us.

 

American Family Children's Hospital's Kids Helping Kids program provides philanthropic opportunities for kids, tweens and teens interested in helping patients and families. Started in 2004 in response to growing interest from local teachers and students to help patients, Kids Helping Kids continues to be inspired by generous gifts from kids, tweens and teens throughout Wisconsin.

 

Time and again, young people have organized events - from change challenges to basketball tournaments - to raise money for American Family Children's. In the 2006-2007 school year, 41 schools participated in Kids Helping Kids at American Family Children's Hospital. Students were very creative in their fundraising techniques, a middle school had a penny war while a high school waxed guys' legs.

 

 

Kids Helping Kids hopes to provide an opporutunity for kids, tweens and teens to positvely impact families here in our community. Many children in our community know someone or have been themselves treated at American Family Children's Hospital. Their fundraising efforts may directly affect someone they know.

 

Fred Rogers of "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" said of youth philanthropy, “One thing that concerns me is I know how tempting it could be to encourage generosity by asking children to help 'the needy' or those who are 'less fortunate.' That kind of thinking divides people into 'us' and 'them' and doesn't necessarily contribute to a sense of 'neighborliness.' As different as we are from one another, as unique as each one of us is, we are much more the same than we are different. That may be the most essential message of all, as we help our children grow towards being caring, compassionate, and charitable adults. Yes, everyone has needs and everyone has something of value to give!”

 

(From Talking With Mr. Rogers About Children and Giving)

 

A great way to explain why your fundraising effort is so important is to remind your students they will be helping sick kids feel better. By doing a change challenge or dance-a-thon, they are enhancing quality of life for our patients and families. Fundraising supports a variety of programs and services at American Family Children's, including: Family Resource Center, Tyler's Place, Positive Image Center, and Kohl's Safety Center. Your efforts also support research and provide families with housing, meals, transportation and emergency assistance. For example, we were able to supply more than 13,000 meals in 2006 to patient families through this fund.