How crazy is it that just a little over two months ago, life was considered “normal” here in north Texas. Now, “normal” has a very different meaning thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sadly, we’ve seen sickness and death, anxiety and fear, conflicting data and information, social distancing and isolation. Yet community has endured.
Frontline healthcare workers are burning both ends to nurse people back to health. Companies across the state and country have shifted procedures and operations to create masks and PPE for those who need it. Family and friends are going out of their way to provide some hope in what seems, at times, a hopeless situation.
And thank goodness for that. We need those people right now. Some of those people also happen to be teenagers.
Meet Stella, Quinn, Isabella and Trevor. These four kids are behind the holiday-favorite Jingle Bell Mistlecrew (a group that sells mistletoe each year to raise money for the North Texas Food Bank) who have started a new endeavor: Chalk4Change.
With North Texas Food Bank impacted by the pandemic and more DFW families struggling with food access, these kids knew they had to help. “We knew we wanted to do something, and so we pretty much just brainstormed ideas,” Stella says. “It had to be something anyone could do and that followed social distancing rules. We had been seeing chalk art all around our neighborhoods and on the news, and we thought, ‘Well hey, there’s a fundraiser in that!’”
So the kids set up a Go Fund Me page, where they have challenged friends, family and neighbors (who then challenge more friends, family and neighbors) to donate $20 or more to the Chalk4Change page.
In return for the donation, kids will come to your home and chalk your sidewalk or driveways with a cheerful drawing or inspirational message.
One hundred percent of the donations will go to the North Texas Food Bank. Their goal? $10,000.
And how much have they raised so far? Oh, just $8,400. (Cue applause.)
Stella says that once they reach their goal, they’ll give it right to the food bank as it’s needed ASAP. “[But] we hope to continue receiving donations as long as people are willing to donate. There are always people to feed, and we want to support them as best we can.”
And if you’re in North Texas, you’re in the kids’ zone. Stella says their group—as well as other kids who want to help—plan to decorate every house they can. ‘The goal is to create a chain reaction and challenge others,” she says.
Challenge accepted.
If you want to get involved with Chalk4Change, visit the Go Fund Me page—and be sure to share it with those you know.
Photo courtesy of Steve and Lucy Wrubel.
