I never thought that a cookie could lift a kid's spirits to the sky, but that was before I visited the homeless shelters. With the grant from
YouthNOISE, myself and volunteers from my non-profit organization called Kids Helping Kids in Crisis were able to cheer up over 100 homeless children and thier families. We led cookie decorating activities at several homeless
shelters to encourage the creativity of the kids and to make it a fun and caring experience for the holidays. The kids were surprised with the variety of decorations that we gave them to choose from and that we valued and praised
them for thier choices. The smiles and laughter of the kids filled the once empty white rooms with hope and cheer. The atmosphere we created was miraculous because it soothed family quarrels and stopped the fights between kids. It was wonderful to don my santa hat, pass out small gifts to everyone and play games with the kids. It didn't matter that the kids were homeless,
from broken families or were neglected among 6 other siblings. By giving as much care as possible to each kid, we formed bonds of trust with the kids who needed the support so desperately. The impact of our actions went far beyond the cookies. Even months after the holidays I want to go back to the shelters to pass out gifts from our toydrive. Every month we do fundraisers to help out orphanages international. There are so many kids out there who are hurting and neglected yet go unnoticed. We've got to change that.