Week 48: Gallatin Valley Land Trust

We LOVE the trails in Bozeman! Whether biking on the Galligator or hiking the M or Drinking Horse, there are so many great places to go in Bozeman. We were inspired to choose GVLT because our friend Marla and her employer, Mercury Advertising, gave a great donation to GVLT as part of their holiday project.

Thanks for all you do, GVLT! And Marla and Wally, I hope it's OK to steal your photo!

Week 47: Milford Utah Public Library

We chose Milford, Utah because we stopped through this tiny town while flying across the West in our tiny Cessna. The people in Milford were so kind -- including Swede at the airport and Shannon at the motel -- that we decided to send our gift for this week to this town. Thanks for your hospitality! Maybe we will see you again soon.

Milford Public Library

Map of our projects

View 52 Gifts in a larger map

Week 46: Tibetan Childrens Education Foundation

This started as a class field trip to a sand mandala at MSU. And it was really cool. We saw it getting started, and I wanted to come back again, so my mom and I came the day it was being destroyed. So we saw it finished! And, I got to take a little bag of sand home, and my mom bought me a purple scarf.

The children in Tibet were being forced to go to Chinese schools quite awhile ago, and now they're trying to fix it. What we're doing is so the children are able to go to school.

This foundation is based out of Helena, Montana

Week 19: UNICEF

I like how UNICEF helps kids. I like that it does it even though it doesn't have to. It's doing something extra. It's going the extra mile. We listened to a radio interview from a girl in Kenya.

UNICEF

Week 18: Thrive

We went to a Kentucky Derby Party at our friend Cali's house. We tried to pick the horse that would win the race, and half of the money would go to Thrive. Molly picked the horse that came in second, but nobody picked the winner, so Thrive got all the money. That is great, because Thrive helps kids and families in so many ways.

Visit Thrive

Thrive helps CAP mentors at Irving School. YAY! Also, my mom is going to play in the Thrive golf tournament again this year. It is really fun.

Week 17: MSU Recycling Club

MSU Recycling Club came to my school last week and taught us about garbology and how to save the planet's environment.

Every day they weighed our garbage that we threw away at lunchtime, and the first day it was 82 pounds. The second day it was 73 pounds. The third day it was 83 pounds, and the last day it decreased so much it was only in the 50's! We got all excited about that and that day, we had a big assembly to see who was the Recycling King and Queen. A whole bunch of people saw that and we thought that the 6 (they added the milk that we poured out, too) was a 0, and so it looked like 03.4 pounds that we threw away and we were totally freaking out! But then we realized that it was 63.

The Recycling King was Kyle Steen, and the Recycling Queen was my best friend, Mari Aoki, and I got mentioned because I helped my friend Ally Bauerle collect biodegradable things to put in her grandparents' compost pile.

I like the MSU Recycling Club because they are really nice and they seem to know what they're doing.

Thank you, Kevin, Zach, Maddie, Kari, and Kina.

Here's an article about Kevin!

Week 16: SaveACulture.com

I learned about this from a Tibetan lama who came to my classroom. His name was Tenzin Konchock.

He told us about how Tibetan lamas live and how China was taking over Tibet and how Tibetan families escaped to Nepal and India to try and make schools and keep their religion alive. In the schools in Tibet, they did the Chinese history and the Chinese religion, and so they wanted to keep their religion alive.

Visit the Antahkarana Society International

Week 15: Greenscool

Greenscool is a non-profit organization that installs renewable energy systems and educates children in impoverished schools around the world.

We read about Greenscool in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, and we think it is really neat!

Visit Greenscool

Week 14: ROC Wheels

ROC Wheels is a group right here in Bozeman that makes and distributes wheelchairs for kids in developing countries in Africa, Iraq, Peru and other places.

I chose this because if the kids in these developing countries didn't have these wheelchairs they would just be lying around in the dust with everyone ignoring them, and they would get painful sores on their bodies.

Visit ROC Wheels in Bozeman, Montana!

Week 13: Literacy Through Photography

I wanted to do Literacy Through Photography because my class did it, and for the first time this year, we actually got to take the pictures instead of my teacher, Mrs. Sutton taking them. And this year, Rachel Cudmore helped. We each picked a part of our body that we thought represented us best and we wrote poems about it and took pictures of it with the help of our parents.

We finished that a little while ago and soon we're going to have an art show at Rockford Coffee, which is a local coffee bar, and now the other third grade class is going to do LTP.

I learned so much about photography and now I am such a better photographer! I think I did some pretty good writing, too. My poem was called "Rainbow Eyes" and I took many pictures of my eyes, but only one is shown here.

Week 12: Heard Museum Native American Student Art Program

I wanted to choose this because they bring out the art in all the Native American kids, and I like that, because I love to do art and my school always does something with ArtSplot and each year we have a different theme. One year it was birds, one year it was dragonflies and this year it was fruit trees.

My Aunt Tink volunteers at the Heard Museum gift shop and she helps with this project, and I like that, because I like Aunt Tink and she is really nice!

Art by Heather Kee, Navajo, age 10

Visit the Heard

Week 11: Phoenix Zoo

I wanted to choose the Phoenix Zoo because there are a ton of animals to look at, and I liked looking at the baby orangutan because he reminded me of my brother, Cam. He seemed like he got into mischief, because he always ran away from his mom and he kept going upside down and kissing her (kind of like Cam).

And, I liked going to Monkey Village at Phoenix Zoo where we saw little spider monkeys and I got a lot of pictures of them. They are just so cute!

Visit the Phoenix Zoo

Week 10: Audubon Society (for elf owls!)

I want to help the elf owls because in school not too long ago we were reading a story and it was called "The Living Desert" from National Geographic Kids (I think) and it had a picture of a tiny little elf owl and it was just so cute. And I wanted to help elf owls.

The elf owls live in saguaro cacti and I wanted to help save their homes.

Illustration courtesy of paulmirocha.com

Visit the Audubon Society

Week 9: Read Across America

I love reading, so this is a great chance to just get out of your seat and read. Just put your heart into it! And have fun! So this is why I want to thank Read Across America because this will get kids up out of their seats and have fun.

Read Across America is held every year in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday, on March 2.

Read more about Read Across America

We are giving our gift this week to Mrs. Pike and the Irving School Library in honor of Read Across America!

Week 8: The Pencil Project

We first heard about The Pencil Project at the Girl Scout World Thinking Day. One of the troops in our area was teaching us about Nigeria and started The Pencil Project.

The Pencil Project

Week 7: American Heart Association.

In honor of Valentine's Day Week, we picked the American Heart Association.

Week 6: Gallatin Valley Farm to Schools Program

The Gallatin Valley Farm to Schools Program helps connect local farmers and local schools so kids can have healthy foods to eat and learn more about local agriculture.

Molly and her Irving third grade class attended the MSU Local Foods Bazaar on Feb. 10. They tasted yummy water, cheesy potatoes, wheat bread and white bread with honey and butter and little cakes and chips and salsa, and cereal from Cream of the West.

Molly was even interviewed on the 10:00 news!

You can also help the Gallatin Valley Farm to School effort:

Week 5: United Way Youth Fitness

For this week, we are choosing the United Way's Youth Fitness program, which we heard about during the Super Bowl. We need the next generation of people to be healthy and strong and happy, because if they aren't healthy and strong and happy, they won't be able to help our earth! And our earth is sick--very sick.

Map of our 52 gifts

View Larger Map

Week 4: Bridger Bowl Foundation

We picked Bridger Bowl Foundation because a lot of people like to ski there. We want to help them ski, so they can have fun and be fast and reach their goals and maybe a little more than their goals!

You can help, too

Week 3: Arbor Day Foundation

Trees make oxygen. We need oxygen. Trees will soon need us. People are chopping down too many trees. The Earth is getting sick. We need to help! That's why we're donating to Arbor Day Foundation.

http://www.arborday.org/takeaction/donate.cfm

We've got art!

Molly made a special design that I have turned into the cards we will send to the groups that receive our donations.

Molly the Marketer

Molly is already coming up with new ideas for promoting our site.

We can tell our friends and family. Molly is going to tell the kids in her school. She thinks that her class could divide into groups and each group would represent one week and they might go to rest homes and to parks and from then, who knows what will happen!

Week 2: Pennies for Peace

We chose Pennies for Peace because it helps people in Pakistan. It helps girls go to school who can't go to school because they have always been excluded because they are girls.

Now Greg Mortenson is doing Pennies for Peace. He is taking Pennies with him to Pakistan and helping build schools for the girls.

Learn how you can help, too!

Week 1: Engineers Without Borders, MSU chapter

We love Engineers without Borders because they are kind and considerate and they want to help the world.

EWB's Montana State University chapter came to speak at Irving International School about water pollution in Kenya. EWB is sending some students from MSU to Kenya to help.

Watch "The Water Carriers" on YouTube about EWB's work in Kenya.

Learn how you can help, too.

Choices

Today we are starting to talk about where we will give the gifts. We talked about many ideas that important to us:

kids and families

animals

art

books

clothing

food

writing

helping people around the world.

We want to choose some groups that are local, and others that are far away. We are open to your ideas!

Some of the groups we want to choose are:

Engineers without Borders

Animal Shelters

Food Banks

Farmers in South America

Pennies for Peace

The Birth of 52 Gifts

This idea came to me this week, not long after watching the Inauguration of Pres. Obama. As much as I want to give back, to contribute, to make the world a better place, it seems constraints of time always get in the way, and I can't afford to give the kind of large financial gifts that really make a huge impact.

However, I realized that one of the main ways I can give back is to teach my daughter and son the importance of giving back -- pass it on to the next generation.

My daughter, Molly, is 8. She has a kind heart. She's generous, compassionate and considerate.

So, together, we will carry this project out.

Each week of the year, we will choose one group that could use a small gift of $5. When the year is up, we will have given 52 gifts in all. We know that no one small gift can make that much difference, but, maybe others will be inspired to give small gifts, as well.

And just like the millions of people who see the potential for change in Pres. Obama, our small gifts can be combined to make a huge difference in our world.

Our next step is to begin choosing the groups that will receive our gifts. We're a few weeks behind and have to get busy!