November 9, 2011; Source: The Gazette | In October, Carderock Springs Elementary School became an inspiration to the rest of us by involving the children from Kindergarten through fifth grade in acts of philanthropy. They started with each class being read “The Lemonade Ripple; An Adventure in Philanthropy,” which is a book about a little girl who set up a lemonade stand to help a friend purchase a new wheelchair. In the book, the whole community ends up helping with the project.

After the book was read to them the children wrote their own ideas about how to contribute to others on pieces of yellow paper, which they hung up in the school foyer.

One second-grader, Aanya Rathod, came up with the idea to invite some friends over to make homemade cards that could then be sold. She earned $180, which was donated to charity.

A fourth-grader, Jose Wray, had his family donate clothes and toys to the Salvation Army but is now moving along to a more specific but related mission. “Now we are getting socks and creams for homeless people with diabetes, because their faces and feet get rough,” he said.” It’s good for our community to help a lot of people.”

At the end of the month, representatives from each grade presented a very large check to an organization that offers financial assistance to families of cancer patients, and then third-grader Ryan Darby, whose leukemia was the inspiration for the organization, spoke to the crowd to bring a human face to the work the children had done.

So maybe I am just overemotional today, but this just makes me want to shout with joy and admiration.—Ruth McCambridge