Playworks sells toys that invite play and enhance early childhood development [fun for all ages]

Thanksgiving: a day for giving thanks. For many, Thanksgiving is their favorite holiday. The day before Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day of the year. Airplanes are crammed, highways jammed. Perhaps the appeal of family gatherings is their focus~being together, sharing a meal, making memories without the maddening commercialism of upcoming holidays.

Coming together, giving thanks, sharing the bounty of the harvest, these are hallmarks of Thanksgiving, since its inception in 1621, when Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared a harvest feast. Sharing brings to mind Hannah, a seven year old girl who, after the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, felt compelled to do something to help the survivors. She decided, with the support of her mother Katie, to bake and sell brownies and send the proceeds to Japan.

She arranged with her priest to sell brownies at coffee hour after Sunday service. You can imagine how touched the priest was by the determination of this child to "make a difference" and how enthusiastically she promoted the project. The sale was quite a success. A couple of folks paid $100 for one brownie, although the cost was whatever anyone chose to pay.

Episcopal Relief and Development, to whom she sent the donations, wrote about Hannah in its newsletter, and a reader in Missouri mailed her a check for $100, asking that she use the money any way she chose and that instead of shipping brownies to him she give them away to whomever she chose. Hannah was amazed by the generosity from this stranger and pondered the possibilities, ultimately deciding to organize a drive to raise funds for distraction toys for hospitalized children. For this she went door to door in her neighborhood and enlisted help from her Brownie troop.

She asked people to do whatever they could~no "suggested donation" as typically appears in appeals from professional fundraisers. She asked for money or toys, whatever seemed doable. Ultimately a generous check went to Children's Hospital Los Angeles and toys filled a closet on the pediatric unit at City of Hope. She sent letters to every donor, reporting on the success of the campaign and expressing appreciation to all who helped. That is "the icing on the cake," if you ask me.

Grateful for the generosity of those at Saint George’s Church who supported her initial brownie sale, she decided to show her thanks with an after church coffee hour complete with free brownies for all, demonstrating the truth of "what goes around, comes around."

All this because one person cared enough to do something and others responded generously. I am touched by the sensitivity, generosity of spirit, and determination of this child and grateful for her supportive mother who listened with her heart and worked tirelessly to help her daughter carry through on her project. Both exemplify the best of human endeavors, and I give thanks for their leadership in generosity.