((TITLE)) KIDS GIVE BACK
((TRT: 09:50))
((Producer/Editor/Additional Camera: Lisa Vohra))
((Camera: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Annandale, Virginia))
((Main characters: 1 female; 0 male))
((Sub characters: 6 female; 5 male))
((Blurb: In 2022, Kids Give Back was named Outstanding Community Organization in Governor Youngkin’s Volunteerism and Community Service Awards. We join them as young kids discover ways to give back to communities in need.))
((NATS/MUSIC))
Hi.
This is Lennon.
Hello.
((Denise Gavilan
Executive Director, Founder, Kids Give Back))
If I can have your attention for a minute, my name is Ms. Denise. I'm going talk to you a little bit about why we're here. We're all about giving back to our community. And when we talk about volunteering, there are four Ts of volunteering, four Ts. The first T of volunteering, and there's going to be a test later.
((Text on screen: Time))
The first T of volunteering is using your time, taking your time to do your projects. That's going to be really important this week because all the things that we do this week are going to benefit somebody else. We are doing what we're going to call making a difference in our community. We're doing something that's going to make somebody else happy.
((Text on screen: Talent))
The second T of volunteering is using your talent. What does it mean to use your talents to volunteer? Yes, you have an answer.
((Sylee
Participant))
If you're making a card for someone, like if they're at the hospital, you would use like...you would write nice things in the card.
((Denise Gavilan
Executive Director, Founder, Kids Give Back))
Did you guys hear that? Using your artistic skills to volunteer.
((Text on screen: Teamwork))
The third T is teamwork. Why do we work as teams?
((Participant))
Because if you work as a team, you get...you actually get better work and better results, because everybody has an idea.
((Denise Gavilan
Executive Director, Founder, Kids Give Back))
Yeah, everybody has an idea.
((Text on screen: Treasures))
And the fourth is treasures. A treasure is something valuable, right? It costs money to make a meal. It's going to cost money to make art kits for hospitalized kids. Everything has a value.
((Denise Gavilan
Executive Director, Founder, Kids Give Back))
So, Ms. Lauren, do you want to lead them in an icebreaker?
All right.
((NATS))
((Denise Gavilan
Executive Director, Founder, Kids Give Back))
No matter how much work this is, the number of hours of planning, when we get here, it's just so fulfilling.
((Lauren Imwold
Teacher))
What is something that you are maybe good at, that could maybe like help somebody? Like…and it could be a little thing, like I'm a good artist, so I can make nice cards for the kids in the hospital. So, you're going to start by saying your name and then you might say something like, "One thing I could do to help people is..." So, go ahead.
((Sean
Participant))
My name is Sean. One thing I could do to help people is...I'm good at basketball and I love basketball, so I can like teach people basketball.
((Sylee
Participant))
So, my name is Sylee and I've been doing like Bollywood dance and hip-hop dance and all this type of dance, so...and I'm doing it competitive. So, I could teach people how to do that.
((Lauren Imwold
Teacher))
Cool. All right. Let’s see if we can do one or two more.
Kids Give Back is all about like kids just having an opportunity to volunteer and help people in need. It really helps like raise awareness for the kids about people experiencing different things out there. And I've seen them like become more empathetic as the week goes on and start to understand more and ask more complex questions about what people are going through like what kind of situations might cause someone to be in the hospital or something like that. So, it's a really a good learning opportunity for them.
((Denise Gavilan
Executive Director, Founder, Kids Give Back))
You like horses. You like dogs? All right, got it.
When I had the idea for Kids Give Back, I just started talking to parents. I was going out to lunch with people. I was talking to friends. And then I reached out to the nonprofit community and said, "We recognize there aren't a lot of opportunities for children as young as six years old, right?" They are six years old coming in here and learning about how they can give back to their community. And it was literally just a lot of support. There's always going to be a need for food. There's always going to be a need for kindness in terms of making senior citizens smile or people who are sick. They're just some constant needs that kids can fulfill.
((NATS))
One or two?
One.
((Helen McCarter
Volunteer, Kids Give Back))
I love this camp so much. I've been doing it since I was 13 [years old], and I love working with the kids because by the end of the week, they are also excited about volunteering and coming back. And it's a fun experience.
((Text on screen: Guest Speaker))
((NATS))
((Shy Ashkenazi
Clown and Educator))
A clown getting ready, who would have thought?
I'm Shy Ashkenazi. I'm a trained hospital clown.
So I'm a clown who doesn't use the makeup. I'm a clown using this thing. What is this? The red nose, right? And I'm not scary, because you know what? Even if you're really scared and say, "Oh, I'm not comfortable with the nose.", I just do this and say, "It's just me. It's Shy who you just met, right?" But now, I'm a clown. This is an international symbol. All over the world people see this and they know this is a clown. Now I'm a special kind of clown. I'm a hospital clown or a medical clown. Have you heard of that? Raise your hand if you've heard of a medical clown.
((Participant))
No.
((Shy Ashkenazi
Clown and Educator))
Okay, let me tell you what it is. I go into a hospital, and I visit people who are either sick, or their family members are sick, or, you know, sometimes the doctors, the nurses, all the employees in the hospital, they need someone to, we would say, "Give me a…pick me up." We make them…you talked about smiling, we make them smile. So, I walk around the hospital, and I would come, and I would go into a room.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Shy Ashkenazi
Clown and Educator))
The key values behind hospital clowning is: making people happy, and giving back to the community, finding people in their weakest spots in life and elevating them.
((NATS))
((Shy Ashkenazi
Clown and Educator))
We have the cup here, regular cup. I'm going to make the cup float in the air. Ready?
((Participant))
No.
((Shy Ashkenazi
Clown and Educator))
No?
((Participant))
Yes.
((Shy Ashkenazi
Clown and Educator))
One, two...ooooo.
((NATS))
((Shy Ashkenazi
Clown and Educator))
Now, I can't tell you how I did this. I can't.
((Participant))
Your thumb.
((Shy Ashkenazi
Clown and Educator))
What about?
((Participant))
No, the other thumb. There's a hole.
((Participant))
You put the hole in there to make it look like that while your thumb was hiding behind it.
((Shy Ashkenazi
Clown and Educator))
Wonderful.
So, I wasn't planning on telling you how I did it, but I got confused and I did this. So, when I'm in the hospital, and we sit and we play, I accidentally show you how I did the trick. And guess what? In a few minutes, you're going to take your cups, and you're going to make that trick yourself, and we're going to learn how to do it. So, you can trick people with a floating cup.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Lauren Imwold
Teacher))
They're making some cards for children who are in the hospital. So, there's like a specific set of directions of like different things that they could write, and then you can sign it at the end with your first name and what state you live in.
((Mia Eskandary
Participant))
Dear friend, you are awesome. I hope you have an awesome day.
Sincerely, Mia.
((Lennon Ruiz
Participant))
My name is Lennon, and I had a great time today so far.
((Theo Tran
Participant))
My name is Theo. My day went very good because I was [with] my friends and making people...making people happy is just…is just the right thing to do.
((NATS))
((Text on screen: Young Chefs))
((Denise Gavilan
Executive Director, Founder, Kids Give Back))
We're making 200 meals, which requires 20 pounds of chicken strips and 18 pounds of pasta, just to get the main meal ready. And then there's dozens and dozens of like cucumbers and carrots, and then the kids are also going to assemble 200 bags of treats to go with the meal.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Denise Gavilan
Executive Director, Founder, Kids Give Back))
It just blows me away that we can get 23 kids, who are between first and sixth grade, to concentrate on making meals for people in need. Like this is their...this is our biggest project of every camp.
((NATS))
All right. I think these olives are looking pretty good.
((Denise Gavilan
Executive Director, Founder, Kids Give Back))
And this is the one that makes the most impact on them, because they understand hunger, right? But they also know they can go home and fill their hunger. And so when you tell them, "Tonight, 200 people are going go home with a full belly because of you", it's just...it's such an impactful story. So, this is the lesson out of all of them. Every week, it is a ton of work for us. It is multiple trips to the grocery store. It’s multiple trips to organize things. But then we make it so that the kids are just prepping the food and they get so much out of it.
((Lauren Imwold
Teacher))
We have here Suzanne from Facets. She's going to be taking the food to the people who need it.
((Suzanne Hough
Director of Volunteer Engagement, Facets))
Facets works with the community to support individuals and families struggling with homelessness and poverty. We started out with a Hot Meals program, and today, 35 years later, we're still doing a hot meal every evening and every Sunday morning.
((NATS))
((Suzanne Hough
Director of Volunteer Engagement, Facets))
So now that you’ve made the meal, are you ready to help me load load it up into the van?
((Participants))
Yes.
((Suzanne Hough
Director of Volunteer Engagement, Facets))
Awesome. Okay.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Denise Gavilan
Executive Director, Founder, Kids Give Back))
The mission of Kids Give Back is to inspire the next generation of volunteer leaders. That is our mission. Whatever we do, we want the kids to walk out of here today and be proud of the meals that they made, the friends that they made, and the ideas that they have to continue making a difference in our community. We want them to understand that at six years old, they can do something that makes a difference, whether it's as simple as dropping off greeting cards to a senior citizen's home, or being at a camp like this where they're making an impact by making meals and animal toys and gifts for hospitalized children.
((NATS))
((Denise Gavilan
Executive Director, Founder, Kids Give Back))
The impact is: take the message forward and continue volunteering. That's the end. Like if I have a kid that comes to me in three years and says, "Ms. Denise, I continued volunteering for a food bank because you inspired me to do that.", I'll feel like I've done my job.
((NATS/MUSIC))