We had our second “Helping Haiti Kids” event yesterday which was another heartfelt event with local families. We had a wonderful turnout despite the super stormy weather. Our event followed a similar agenda as our first one in December, which you can read about here. Because of both events, we completed 84 hygiene kits and now every child in the Center of Hope Haiti school will receive a personalized hygiene kit- each kit showcasing a polaroid picture and special wish from the family who made the kit.

There is a saying on Haiti’s Coat of Arms, which translates to: “Union Makes Strength.” This is quite apropos given our two Haiti events. It’s been really powerful to see our community come together and have such a big impact on not only an entire school in Haiti, but on each other.  I’ve learned that after attending our first Haiti event that there are at least two kids who are on a mission to raise money for Haiti, and one even set up a bake sale outside of our local school to collect funds, which is incredible.  This is exactly the type of impact we want to make with Mindful Littles community service events.  Our hope is that we inspire littles and bigs alike to spread their light and love to others.  If through our events we can create this spark of inspiration even in just a few kids, then there can be a powerful downstream effect on our entire community.

Our events wouldn’t be possible without the help of our incredible planning team- Mary Patel, Molly Hanahan and Sarah Bennett.  Their heart, passion and energy to help put together our Mindful Littles projects is amazing.  Yesterday we had sick kids, power outages, broken garages, back injuries and a powerful storm to contend with; not to mention our husbands were missing some “great football” to support us in our endeavors.  After the event, we had loaded up our cars and Mary’s car wouldn’t start in the pouring rain and needed a jump-start.  We thought we would have to call our spouses or a tow-truck after a very long afternoon; quite honestly probably the last thing we wanted to deal with in the storm.  But Molly stepped in and said “I got this. I’m Molly from Montana.”  She not only had jumper cables in her car, but also knew exactly what to do.  Within a few minutes, and after a lot of laughs, Mary’s car restarted and we were back on our way.  This was a perfect example of how awesome our team is, and that union does make strength.  I’m truly grateful to have these amazing women on our Mindful Littles team.