A Better
World
One
Dolly
At A
Time
In the wake of a tragedy such as the earthquake which has devastated Haiti, simple comforts can be hard to find. Surrounded by the loss of life as recovery efforts continue, even the strongest of Haitian survivors must feel weakened by all that they have experienced. In the face of such destruction, it can be easy to overlook those who must be the most overwhelmed by the events of January 12th the children of Haiti. It is because of this that Sarah Hanson and her Dolly Donations program has teamed with the Abundant Ground Foundation in an attempt to bring some stability and comfort to the children of Haiti. Abundant Ground is helping to provide food and shelter for 181 orphans in Haiti, and Dolly Donations is attempting to create a special handmade doll for each of them. Even in the wake of monumental disaster a doll can symbolize to a child the beauty in the world around them, giving them a symbol of love that will shine even in the darkest of nights.
Hanson
was first inspired to begin the Dolly Donations program by her daughter, wanting
to find a way to help the young girl to see the world in a positive light. She
even goes so far as to refer to her daughter as her "top quality control
manager", letting her play with and interact with new dolls to make sure that
they can survive the attentions of a young child. Knowing the comfort that her
daughter finds with dolls, Hanson wants to try and share that comfort with the
children in Haiti who need it most ..
Dolls have long been
established as symbols of how children view themselves, having even been used by
Doctors Kenneth and Mamie Clark to prove this valuable point and change the
course of the landmark "Brown vs. the Board of Education" case in front of the
US Supreme Court. The dolls were used in the Clarks' tests to show that
segregation was creating harmful associations in regarding skin color in
children who attended segregated schools, with the fact that children viewed the
dolls as representations of themselves playing a large part in the test results.
Dolly Donations is currently attempting to create 103 girl dolls and 78 boy
dolls for the Abundant Ground Foundation so that they can be distributed to the
children in the Haitian orphanage that Abundant Ground is sponsoring. The
children who will receive the dolls are all between ages 5 and 12 and are in
desperate need of love and comfort in what is the most confusing and
heartbreaking period of their young lives. Abundant Ground has promised to
distribute any dolls that are made in excess of the 181 that Dolly Donations is
trying to produce as well, sharing the love that is put into the creation of the
dolls with as many children as they can.
A
deadline has been set for the creation of the dolls, however in order to
distribute them within a reasonable timeframe, Abundant Ground needs to ship the
dolls by March 31, 2010. Each of
the Dolly Donations dolls is handmade with care, and even though there is a
template which Hanson created to speed up the process of making the dolls the
process still takes time. The work that is
being put into the creation of the dolls only serves to strengthen the resolve
of Dolly Donations to meet their deadline, however; the creation of 181 dolls
for these children is an act of love and compassion, and this love serves as the
driving force that keeps the doll-makers going and the doll count
rising
If you would like to help
with the creation of handmade dolls for the Dolly Donations Haitian relief
effort, your assistance is more than welcome. Hanson has created a template for the
dolls as well as a series of photo and video tutorials, letting anyone who might
be interested in creating dolls for the Haitian orphans have a chance to help
even if they've never made a doll before.
All of the information about creating the dolls and sending them to the
Abundant Ground Foundation can be found on the Dolly Donations blog, located at
http://dollydonations.blogspot.com/2010/01/dolly-donations-rag-dolly-tutorial-free.html Just
make sure that dolls are sent with sufficient time to arrive at
Abundant Ground headquarters in
The
Average
Joe
One doesn't have to have millions of dollars,
days on end of free time, or a community service oriented job to make a
difference to the world or community. Normal, everyday people are doing it all
the time, and these people are the yearly featured heroes of the CNN Heroes.
(CNN Heroes/6-10-09)
One such hero is Carolyn Manning, a woman on a mission of welcome for refugee families. She is the founder of The Welcome to America Project, which works to assist refugees and their families in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 2001, Carolyn Manning and her organization has provided essentials like clothing and furniture to over 550 families in need.
Retired Navy Capt. Ed Nicholson is another one of the CCN Heroes. Ed Nicholson started Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing to fulfill his desire of giving back by helping to rehabilitate wounded service members and veterans of the armed services. In the last four years, his organization has grown to more than 50 locations across the US.
Another CNN
Hero is Doc Hendley, who is traveling the world to bring clean water to people
in five countries. His project, Wine to Water, has brought that clean water to
more than 25,000 people, and continues creative fundraising to provide this
simple need to people in some of the most war-torn regions on the world.
Ordinary heroes like
these three are making a big difference in the world. Fortunately enough with so
many average people making a contribution, together it’s making a big difference
in many areas of need. Instead of one millionaire or billionaire affecting a
small population for a limited cause in one area, the Average Joe is making a
bigger impact with the multitude of interests, causes and people. The Average
Joe is covering more ground.