Charitable Parents Raise Charitable Kids

(Source: Reuters) – Not long after the megastorm Sandy hit the northeast United States, Maryum Goodwin and her little girl Ryleigh, 6, saw a disturbing picture of the New Jersey shore devastation.

“That’s somebody’s house?” Ryleigh asked.

“It used to be,” said Maryum, a stay-at-home mother from Kennesaw, Georgia.

That moment got Ryleigh thinking about how she could help. Since it was Halloween, she suggested donating her candy to kids who did not get to trick-or-treat. Her mom found a local Kennesaw resident who was shipping care packages north, and they dropped off all the candy she had collected.

“She was so excited to help,” says Maryum, who noted that that Ryleigh’s younger brother, Caleb, was not quite so thrilled about the idea.

Goodwin is hardly the only parent trying to pull her kids into charitable giving. Thousands of Americans have reached out to victims of the storm, and many are looking for ways to include their children. 

>> Read how many are turning the tragic megastorm Sandy into a teachable moment.