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Lessons in GIVING Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Eight-year-old Brittney Johnson raised $4,000 to sponsor Feed the Children, a nonprofit that then was able to deliver 22 pallets of food to Table Rock Fellowship in Central Point for distribution to food banks in the area. The Christmas season is a good time to start teaching kids to help others, experts say By MELISSA MARTIN Mail Tribune In a holiday season that has become a symbol of getting, how do you teach children about giving? That's a question Rogue Valley parents may be asking as they race from toy shop to electronic store stocking up on Nintendo games and Barbies. Even with Christmas less than two weeks away, it's not too late to plan activities that will teach children philanthropy, said JoAnne Smith, a licensed clinical social worker. "It's fine to make the Christmas list for Santa Claus, but we also need to teach children to reach out beyond our own family," said Smith, who works for Samaritan Counseling of Southern Oregon. "Children reflect our attitudes as well as our behavior," Smith said. "What is demonstrated and lived by parents is the most effective tool." Families with 3-, 4- and 5-year olds may want to start by pulling from their closets a blanket, towels or buying pet food to donate to an animal shelter. "Children love animals; they know how helpless they are," Smith said. "They easily transfer compassion and caring for animals to humans." Jackson County kennel technician Donna Patnesky has witnessed children giving up birthday parties and gifts to benefit pets awaiting adoption. "It's incredible some of the stuff kids come up with to do with the animals," Patnesky said. "It amazes me." Another philanthropy idea is to bake cookies with children and, together, deliver plates of goodies to neighbors, Smith said. "You're giving a gift that's creative and out of your own supplies," Smith said. "It's a very old idea, but very effective in presenting value-based caring to children." Grants Pass parent Dana Smith tries not to limit philanthropy lessons to Christmas. The Redwood Elementary School second-grade teacher and her daughters, Gabrielle, 4, and Mikayla, 8, fill a grocery bag with food every month for ACCESS Inc. "We shop together and talk about healthy foods, what would be good to give other people, foods that make us strong," Smith said. "They usually pick out their favorite cereals or crackers to give." "It's our responsibility to take care of one another," said Smith, the counselor's daughter-in-law. "It's a way to be thankful and show we are grateful." Medford parent Cheryl Johnson has an 8-year-old daughter, Brittney, who is like Bob Cratchit in "A Christmas Carol," always looking for an opportunity to help someone. "On her own, when she gets an allowance, she puts so much away in a little jar and gives it to St. Jude's Children's Hospital or the food pantry," Johnson said. Brittney Johnson raised more than $4,000 to become a local sponsor of Feed the Children. The first semi-truck load of food arrived Thursday at Table Rock Fellowship, the church that will distribute canned goods to local food pantries each time a truck arrives in the Rogue Valley. "We're on a fixed income and we don't have a lot to give, but it's those little things that matter," Cheryl Johnson said. "It doesn't cost a whole lot more to stretch a pot of spaghetti or chili and share with the neighbors." Whatever parents choose to do to encourage their children to learn to give, it should be simple and fun, Smith said. "If you're baking cookies, don't make six different kinds," Smith said. "Buy a tube of cookies from the grocery freezer, bake those and put those on a plate. "If you do too much planning, it turns out to be burdensome and you negate the effort." Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.