Are 5-year-olds capable of changing the world?
I never given much thoughts on this. After all, Miss R is still young and seems unaware of most of the world’s sufferings–or so I thought.
One day in May, we borrowed a graphic novel titled Surviving the Wild: Star the Elephant by Remy Lai from a local public library. The book featured a pink male Asian elephant calf named Star from Malaysia (who was also a 5-year-old!). Due to deforestation and human occupation, there was little food and space left available for his herd. They went searching for a new home. It was a difficult journey and they kept running into humans. Star got separated from his aunt and mother during a chase and got lost. Luckily, he was rescued and later reunited with her family at a sanctuary.
At the end of the book, the author made a list of recommendations people could do to help wild elephants. (Lai has two other graphic novels on koala and shark rescues. Miss R loved this series very much, but Star is her favorite. She has always been in love with elephants, especially African elephants because she has a stuffed one at home.) Miss R spotted “bake sale” and waved her hands up immediately, “Mom, I want to host a bake sale for African elephants! How do I do that?”
It was the first time she made such a request. I wasn’t sure how serious she was, but every time I followed up with her, she was positive to proceed.
“What kind of baking goods would you like to make?” I asked.
“Chocolate chip cookies! In elephant shape!” She exclaimed.
This turned out to be a rather unschool-y experience.
From Plans to Actions
Objective: To raise money for African elephant rescue efforts.
Action: To organize a bake sale selling elephant-shaped chocolate chip cookies.
Beneficiary: We had to identify a reputable charity that specialized in African elephant rescue, so I helped Miss R to research and eventually set our eyes on The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust USA (SWT USA), a US charity that supports the work of Keyan-based Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. The organization is most well-known for rescuing baby elephant and rhinos calves in Kenya and nearby countries in Africa. They also run sanctuaries that look after elephant orphans and educate the public about wildlife protection. Sounds like a perfect fit for our cause.
Our Plan: Miss R decided to host this bake sale at her homeschool co-op, a safe space that she felt comfortable with. She wanted to ask her friends for support. I suggested creating a GoFundMe website to collect the funds and make it more official to spread the words. She agreed.
Things to Prepare: (1) Fundraising approval from SWT USA; (2) an information display board; (3) a GoFundMe website; and (4) lots of COOKIES!
Preparation #1: Fundraising Approval from SWT USA
SWT has a page dedicated to fundraising and one of the rules is to seek approval from the organization. I emailed SWT on behalf of Miss R, and they said since it was a small-scale event, no approval was necessary. To thank us for our support, they sent us thank you cards and postcards detailing two elephant orphans’ rescues. Miss R loved them very much. She realized that her efforts were going to pay off for these wonderful creatures. She was excited and ready to take further actions!
Preparation #2: Information Display Board
We bought a poster display board from Dollar Tree and split our work immediately. I helped Miss R research for educational materials, while she took charge in decorating the board and adding illustrations. I was so impressed by her artistic expressions.
Preparation #3: GoFundMe Website
Setting up a website on GoFundMe was a no-brainer. It was extremely easy to set up. No web design experience was necessary. I added the text and images and BOOM, it was ready to go.
Miss R designed the cover photo. She dressed up Ellie, her beloved stuffed elephant, and decorated the background with the Star book that inspired her and her toy cakes to advertise her bake sale. I thought it was a very cute setup and reflected our theme quite well. I also invited her to dictate an opening introduction for the website and she did.
So our website was ready to go! (CLICK HERE)
Preparation #4: Making cookies!
Here comes the most exciting part. After setting up all of the above, it was time to bake some cookies. I found a recipe online that featured chocolate chip animal crackers. I prepared all the ingredients and lied them on the table, waiting for Miss R to do all the measurements. Let’s not forget that she was only 5, so she still had difficulties counting, reading, and understanding units. I helped her by guiding her to count and read numbers. For example, when the recipe asked for “142g of all-purpose flour”, I asked her to pay attention to the values on the digital scale. She would first measure the flour up to 100g, then to 140g, and eventually 142g. While she still does not understand how much 142g actually is, she started developing some vague idea that a 3-digit number is bigger than a 2-digit one.
Once she got all the ingredients ready, we started the mixing process. I was surprised to find Miss R very eager to do everything herself. From mixing the ingredients to kneading the dough, she did literally EVERYTHING. I was only there to help her read the recipe aloud and pass her the ingredients. When the dough was ready, we rolled it flat together and started cutting the cookies.
I found a perfect elephant shape cookie cutter on Amazon, but considering that I would probably never used it again after running this campaign, I was reluctant to buy it. Then an idea came to mind. Have you ever heard of Library of Things? This is a special kind of library service that lends out tools and equipment. You know how you check out books from a library? At a Library of Things, you can borrow a telescope, a sewing machine, a board game, or even a VHS player. More and more libraries are acquiring such a special library in their collections. I was lucky to have one nearby. When I looked up my local library’s catalog, I found dozens of cookie cutters available to check out–including an elephant-shape cutter! Wow. How about that? We rushed to the library and grabbed it at once.
The results turned out so good. The cookies were bigger than expected, but they were so cute that we immediately ate a few. Yum! Miss R even invited her best friend O to help making some. It turned out to be an awesome play date activity and the kids were proud of their work.
The Bake Sale and the Online Fundraiser
We held our bake sale at our homeschool co-op on July 19, 2024. One of Miss R’s co-op friend volunteered to donate even more cookies to the cause. Together we raised $107 just from the bake sale. Everyone seemed to enjoy the cookies, which made Miss R very happy. Even though she was too shy to answer any questions, her baking goods and her drawings obviously captured many’s attention.
Along with support from friends and family, we have raised $372 in total. Not bad for a first-time fundraising from a 5-year-old, right? I am really proud of what she has achieved. Not only that she was able to push forth her ideas, the fact that she showed so much care and love towards other creatures was touching to see. It really makes me wonder how the world would have been if all children started making small steps improving our world one at a time. By becoming aware of the world’s beauty and sufferings, kids grow up to be concerned adults that care about our planet and humankind.
If you are interested in supporting Miss R and her cause, please feel free to visit her fundraising website at https://www.gofundme.com/f/supporting-elephant-rescue-in-kenya. Thank you!