This spring, Putnam County second graders are hard at work sharing their time, talent and treasure to support causes that are most important to them.
The Kids Make Change program is part of the Putnam County Community Foundation’s Youth Philanthropy Initiative that educates and empowers the next generation of Putnam County philanthropists. During the fall semester, second grade classrooms all over Putnam County learned about a “big” word – philanthropy. They learned that not only is it a big word because it’s long and maybe hard to pronounce, but it’s also a big word because it has a big meaning. They learned that it means to give your time, talent and treasure to help other people and brainstormed some service projects where they might be able to give back to their community.
Now, in the second part of the program, those same students are up against two new challenges. First, they are encouraged to participate in an art contest, sharing their talent with the community to share what philanthropy means to them. Each school’s contest finalist will have their artwork shared on the cover of thank you cards and the winner of the contest will earn a $500 grant for their school.
Second, Kids Make Change participants have been challenged to a coin drive. Each school will raise money to support a cause of their choice that is important to their students. Schools will be collecting coins and other donations throughout the month of March with a significant incentive. The school which raises the most money for their cause of choice will earn an additional $1,000 for their efforts. Along the way, teachers have the opportunity to engage students in a variety of ways in the classroom such as math lessons related to coin counting, STEM experiments like coin stacking and more.
The results of both the art contest and the coin drive will be announced in April. Good luck to the second graders as they tackle these philanthropic challenges!