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Mindful Big Spotlight: Born This Way Foundation President Cynthia Germanotta

November 4, 2020 Lisa SadikmanLeave a comment

What better way to connect with your daughter than to co-found an organization dedicated to supporting the well-being of young people through kindness, courage and compassion? Well, that’s just what Cynthia Germanotta and her daughter, Lady Gaga, did with Born This Way Foundation.

A clinician just popped into my office and shared how one of our kids loved the positive words on the hygiene kit. The youth said it felt like Christmas – all because of a hygiene kit. Amazing.

- Beth Goldberg, Director of Development for Youth Homes

The work that Mindful Littles does is the antithesis of the violence. With the continued threat of mass shootings, with homegrown mental illness, you don’t arm people with weapons. You pay attention; you teach compassion, you educate and help community members. This is how we change. This is how we are going to fight the good fight; not with weapons and strategies of self-defense, but by being proactive with love. I believe Mindful Littles is the solution. It will awaken our youth and help contribute to a more positive future.

- Travis Groft, Veteran

The event had quite an impact on my 7-year-old son, Caden, who, after assembling hygiene kits at your Mindful Littles event, decided to raise money for the kids in Haiti on his own. I think what you are doing through the Mindful Littles program is wonderful, and it’s obviously having an impact on children near and far… I look forward to attending another one soon!

- Kim Morrow, Local Bay Area Parent

My time with Mindful Littles has solidified my commitment to youth development and empowerment, as I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing the wonderfully innovative ideas that littles have for the improvement of their communities. There are few things more gratifying than watching and helping littles turn their creativity into meaningful action, and I’m grateful to Mindful Littles for giving me the opportunity to do so.

-Iris Wu, Youth Leader, Age 19

Our Girl Scout troop was looking for something meaningful to do around the holidays. Mindful Littles made everything so easy and the core values of Mindful Littles and Girl Scouts were perfectly matched. The girls appeared at Las Trampas and were immediately put into action assisting disabled individuals with holiday activities and celebrating the holiday cheer. It was a labor of love on both ends. My daughter left the event and said, “That was awesome. Let’s do more of that."

- Jennifer LaForce, Bay Area Girl Scout Troop Leader

Our Daisy Troop invited Tanuka Gordon of Mindful Littles to lead a class for our Kindergarten Daisy Scouts. Tanuka taught the girls through stories and pictures about what life is like for children living in Haiti. We decorated and put together pencil cases for students there. Tanuka also guided us through a mindful moment
incorporating yoga movements and breathing techniques. A few months later, the girls were thrilled to receive artwork back from the students in Haiti. We loved our Mindful Littles class and found that it helped to open the girls’ eyes to the world around them!

Mindful Littles was an integral part of our collaborative initiative, OrindaCares. OrindaCares is a partnership with Mindful Littles, the Orinda Union School District, Miramonte High School, and the City of Orinda. Mindful Littles provided not just the concept and strategy development for this partnership, but the project leadership and organization to make our initiative highly successful.

- Carolyn Seaton, Superintendent of Orinda Union School District

Working with Mindful Littles has been a life changing experience. Before volunteering with this group, I’d say I was guilty of not always incorporating compassion and mindfulness into my everyday life, but since I have started volunteering with this organization I have noticed a positive change within myself.

- Danielle Castro, Youth Leader, Age 17

Mindful Littles has led two programs for our community, one for parents and children called "The Courage to be Different," and one just for children about honoring seniors. Both were absolutely wonderful! It was a pleasure to collaborate with Tanuka in planning the programs. She and her team prepared thoughtful, engaging lessons that were meaningful to the families as well as being fun, interactive, and hands-on. I believe the lessons Mindful Littles brought to our community will stick with the children for a long time. I highly recommend Mindful Littles programs!

That was a really great event. I held more doors open for people in the last few days than I think I have in my life.🙂 Your words were heard.