Magazine article published in Inside Gwinnett Magazine
Saturday, April 1, 2006

Become a Compassionate Kid
By Denise Varenhorst, Columnist

Join the Compassionate Kids service organization at the Chattahoochee Nature Center for an Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 22nd from 10 am to 3 pm. The Roswell-based Center will be hosting the 'Captain Planet Foundation's 4th Annual Down-to-Earth Kids' Fest' with more than twenty hands-on learning stations, rain or shine. (www.chattnaturecenter.com)

Compassionate Kids will have a booth at this festival too. This international service organization is very popular with Atlantaarea homeschoolers, so join the fun and learn all about it!

Bringing Compassion to the World

Compassionate Kids (www.compassionatekids.com) was founded in 2004 by homeschool mom Kelly Palmatier who wanted to share lessons of compassion with the world. Her organization is dedicated to helping teach children compassion towards the earth, its people, and its animals, and membership is free.

The Georgia chapter of Compassionate Kids organizes monthly events around the Atlanta area.

Denise Cooper, a homeschooling mom with five boys between the ages of four and thirteen has been involved with the organization since its very first event; a canned food drive in October of 2004. She says that one of the benefits of joining Compassionate Kids is that events are planned for all over the city so you can meet other homeschooling families whom you wouldn't otherwise run into. The organization is flexible - you can participate in only those activities close to your home, or you can drive to other activities as they fit with your schedule. Denise, who lives in Morrow, took her boys to visit a horse rescue facility in Cumming; an event which was attended by over 100 Compassionate Kids members. She reports that making gift baskets for senior citizens over Christmas has been her boys' favorite Compassionate Kids activity to date. They loved the hands-on nature of the task!

Making Books for Ugandan Children

A close look at the Compassionate Kids upcoming projects highlights just how unusual and meaningful it can be to participate in these efforts. 'Making Books for Charity' and 'Piedmont Park Environmental Adventures' are two activities tentatively scheduled for 2006. The book making activity is tied to The Memory Project, a program focused on bringing comfort to the children of Uganda who have been displaced by civil war.

According to the website www.thememoryproject.org, "Students will be making story books for Ugandan children to look at before going to sleep at night. These books will contain beautiful artwork and calming text - their primary goal will be to help these children to find some peace of mind. Another purpose, given that the war disrupts their education, is to help them read."

Environmental Adventures at Piedmont Park

The Environmental Adventures activity is being organized by the Piedmont Park Conservancy. It will be a handson learning adventure led by a program naturalist who will focus on the unique environmental niche of Atlanta's premiere urban park. If you can't make the Compassionate Kids' trip to the park, you can alternatively plan your own homeschool field trip.

According to the website www.piedmontpark.org, the Piedmont Park Conservancy offers environmental adventure programs in the following areas: human impact, land use, water quality, air quality, ecology, wildlife issues, pond ecology, forest appreciation, plant growth, and gardening and composting.

These programs are designed for K-12 kids and cost just $3.00 per participant! For more information about planning your own Environmental Adventure at Piedmont Park, call (404) 876-4024 or email naturalist@piedmontpark.org.

More Resources for Raising Compassionate Kids

For additional field trip ideas, check out the Compassionate Kids website. It has compassion- inspiring field trip suggestions to help homeschoolers and others to become more involved in improving our environment and community. This website also provides advice to parents on creating a home situation that nurtures compassion. Among the suggestions: help your child to find volunteer work, donate toys to charity, plant trees, visit animal sanctuaries, recycle, and choose recycled products.

Other useful information on the website includes a list of relevant books including 'Say Something' by Peggy Moss, 'Our Big Home' by Linda Glaser, 'Children Around the World' by Donata Montanari, 'The Story of Ruby Bridges' by Robert Coles, and the DVD documentary Sacred Earth.

For more information, contact Compassionate Kids at 770-467- 0050 or www.compassionatekids.com.

Not a Compassionate Kids member yet?
Please sign up for your free membership today!
(Membership is open to all interested parties of any age.)

P.O. Box 329, Sunny Side, Georgia 30284-0329
info@compassionatekids.com (678) 447-4269

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