What was your fundraising idea for Chai Lifeline? And how did you go about it?
Originally I saw some other kids in my neighborhood going door to door collecting money for Chai Lifeline through their summer camp. I asked my mother what it was and she explained it to me. I was a little disappointed that summer because I couldn’t go to camp due to Covid and I had a lot of spare time on my hands. So I asked my parents if I could also collect money to help out the kids at Chai Lifeline. My parents right away said yes! I wrote down all my ideas including a lemonade stand, garage sale, ice bucket challenge and also going door to door. My parents said they would help also with making a chai lifeline website where people could donate online.
How did you get the word out?
I first started off with a lemonade stand. We live in a pretty popular jewish neighborhood so that was easy. My parents had me call all my family and asked if they would support my fundraiser (and Baruch HaShem every gave something). Then my parents and I worked together to come up with ideas for videos to post online.
What caused you to get personally involved in helping Chai Lifeline’s children?
Well, like I said I was having a pretty boring summer. But when my mother explained what Chai lifeline was and how they helped so many kids I felt it was really so awesome. Our close family friend has a daughter with medical issues and they were apart of Chai Lifeline. That made it a no brainer!
Were your parents involved in helping you out?
Yes, my parents helped with the online stuff since I’m just a kid. And they also helped me buy supplies for my lemonade stand and garage sale. They were really into it also. Also, my father was pretty excited to dump some iced cold water on my head!
How would you sum up your feelings after you surpassed your goal?
When I first set my goal my parents tried to convince me to set the goal lower but I knew I could get a lot of people to donate because Chai Lifeline is amazing. But still, I was pretty excited when I did reach my goal!
Were the prizes an incentive?
Honestly, I didn’t know I would get any prizes. I thought the prizes were only for the kids at camp. At the end of the summer, my daddy called and Chai Lifeline was nice enough to let me also get prizes. Boy I was shocked!
What’s your message to other kids out there who want to help Chai Lifeline?
Just do it! Don’t be afraid to ask other people to help, lots of people want to give tzedekah and also see kids doing their best to work towards a goal. Every little bit counts!
Of course you can include any other feelings/thoughts on this!
I didn’t know it at the time but awhile later in the fall I was in an accident and needed emergency surgery. I was pretty out of it but my mother told me Chai Lifeline stepped out and sent my family food for shabbos and checked up on me. Baruch HaShem I had a full recovery but I thought it was really special that Chailife cared about me and my family well after my fundraising had ended. Thanks!