January 2010

Build-A-Bear Workshop, the North American make your own stuffed animal retail mall chain, is looking for the next crop of Huggable Heroes. The company’s 7^th annual search recognizes and rewards kids, age 8 to 18, who demonstrate extraordinary service in their communities and around the world.

Now, through February 26, 2010, anyone can nominate a candidate (and kids can nominate themselves) by visiting www.buildabear.com/huggableheroes or by picking up an entry form at any Build-A-Bear Workshop store across Canada and the United States.

Throughout the years, not only through submissions to the Huggable Heroes program but when the kids are actually in the Build-A-Bear Workshop stores making their bears, staff hear thousands of stories of young people who do things, big and small, to help improve the lives of others.  Projects have ranged from helping children in underdeveloped countries to supporting cancer and diabetes research, organizing toy drives and sending care packages to our troops overseas.

By Karen Bliss

American singer Adam Lambert is using his newfound spotlight more than just For Your Entertainment, as the title of his debut album suggests. The American Idol runner-up is putting his voice behind DonorsChoose.org, an online charity connecting you to classrooms in need.

“It’s something I started promoting over the summer and it’s basically to fund public school programs,” Lambert tells Samaritanmag. “I chose to emphasize the arts.

“The teachers go onto this site and describe what their project is that they need funding for. For example, a music teacher will go on and say, ‘I need a set of 35 headphones for my music production class for these kids.’ So you’ll know what you’re donating for, which is kind of satisfying for someone who is making a donation, and it’s very convenient as well.  And they’ll post little articles about how it went.”

The site is laid out really simply with details about the school, the project cost, and includes a goal bar showing how much money is needed and how much has been donated to date. One teacher needs two ELMO visual presenters for the classroom; another bus transportation for a 4-day Chicago culture trip for 80 students and four teachers scheduled for June.

By Sarah Melody

The 2^nd annual Canada’s Top Teen Philanthropist search, created by financial company Mackenzie Investments, has awarded Sophia Gran-Ruaz with a $5,000 donation to the charity of her choice and $1000 for her post-secondary education. The 17-year-old student at John Cabot Secondary School in Mississauga, Ontario, founded Snug As A Bug, Kids Helping Kids six years ago to create care packages for children entering shelters.

“That’s probably the most difficult time for them,” Gran-Ruaz tells Samaritanmag. “Most of them come just with the clothes on their backs because they are fleeing with their mothers because of abusive relationships and things like that. The care packages are all gender and age appropriate and are filled with books, stuff animals, playing cards, puzzles, magazines.”

The Mississauga, Ontario resident created Snug As A Bug after writing a speech about homelessness for school. Accompanied by her father, she went downtown to speak first-hand with people living on the street. “It was an amazing experience, especially being so young. You certainly have stereotypes of what a homeless person is so hearing their stories really broke that stereotype for me,” she says.

Too young to volunteer at most other charities, the enterprising 11-year-old gathered 500 care packages for babies to age 16 and sent them to Interim Place North and South. The second year approximately 1300 care packages were sent to Interim Place North and South, and The Salvation Army Honeychurch Family Resource Centre. The third year over 2300 care packages were created and sent to the previous two shelters, plus VCWRS Women’s Resource Center. And so on, with more packages and more recipients added each year.  To date, Snug A Bug has distributed more than 10,000 packages.

By Cori Ferguson

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ocho Cinco (born Chad Johnson) is best known for two things: creative touchdown celebrations and talking good-natured smack. What is sometimes overlooked about the Pro Bowl NFL superstar is his commitment to using his celebrity off the football field to make a difference in people’s lives.

At 7:00 a.m. this morning Ocho Cinco departed Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati en route to Miami on what he’s dubbed the “Chad for Charities” tour: a three-day road trip to visit children’s hospitals and help out at food banks. He’s brought along a small army of Twitter followers, chosen from those that purchased a “Chad Ocho Cinco Soldiers For Giving” t-shirt from his website for the chance to win a coveted spot on the bus.

The “Chad for Charities” tour will make stops at the Freestore Food Bank in Cincinnati, OH, the Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia and the Second Harvest Food Bank in Orlando, FL, before arriving in Miami early Sunday morning.