Treats for Children now my Ritual...

[moxie1975]

I have to share my story...

 

I was on the Carnival, Miracle sailing 9-3-06. I had gotten 20 gift packs together of Notebooks, Coloring Books, Colors, Glue Sticks, Pencils, Erasers, Pencil Sharpeners, lots of candy and gum.. I figured it up that I spent less than $30 on all 20 gift packs. I had found coloring books 4 for a dollar at the dollar tree and WalMart had a back to school sale and their notebooks were $.10 and colors were $.10 and glue sticks were 2 for $.20 a piece. I got the erasers, gum, candy and sharpeners at dollar tree. Well my parents thought I was crazy for bringing the extra weight and I tell you they regret thinking that now..

 

First port I handed some out in was Belize.. What a huge rush is was to see the kids faces and the parents as well. One girl was at her house her name was Brianna and was the cutest thing. One parent of a girl name Secret went as far as walking with me telling me about Secret and her schooling and life.. What a rush.

 

The second port I handed them out in was Costa Maya... This was amazing.. I truly felt like the little money I spent was well worth the time and effort I put into this. We went into the fishing village of Majuhal (Spelling??) and there were children sitting in the straw market with their parents.. One "shop" there were 3 little girls and I handed them each a pack and when I left they all said Gracias and their father shook my hand and hugged me and said "God Bless you Child".. I walked away with tears in my eyes.. My parents said that seeing those kids faces was the highlight of the trip and I have to agree with them. We took pictures with some of the kids and I will post them at a later date.. I encourage anyone that is traveling to do this and see for themselves what a great feeling it is to share a little bit with them..

 

Take care and God Bless you all in your Travels...

Libby

[Cotton]

Wonderful! What a payback in seeing those little ones faces, I'm sure.

 

Some of us take school supplies to Cozumel. There's a great group there, Crystalis, that supplies the needed school supplies. Last cruise there, I took bookbags and notebooks. If you go to the Cozumel board, there's a wonderful lady who lives there and is on the boards - Cozumel Sally. She's very involved in Crystalis.:)

[ldock]

wonderfull idea, im going to go shopping, i love doing that stuff. u put tears in my eyes, wow, definatley worth the extra luggage.

 

Thanks so much for sharing your idea

 

God bless!!!!!!!!

[MikeNKim]

What an amazing idea. I will do this on my Miracle cruise next month.

 

Thank you for the inspiration.

 

Kim

[ldock]

Well thanks to your great thinking, tonight i packed 40 little baskets of goodies to take along and hand out. We are leaving for the mexican riviera on monday. I didnt go as practical as you did though, i found little plastic baskets for $.19 and filled them with small playdoughs, crayons, candy, whistle, coloring page, some also got a small notepad. I think i spent around $50 for all 40, i only wish i had found more good deals like you did, (and wasnt running out of time) i would of bought more, perhaps more practical. Anyway, thanks again for sharing your idea! I cant wait to hand them out and see the little faces.

God Bless!

[Cotton]

Good for you! I'm hoping more folks will see this thread and do likewise.

 

It doesn't matter if your gifts are practical or not - those kiddies will be delighted! Can't you just see those little faces light up? It's all about giving - and if we can afford to cruise, we can certainly help those little ones.:)

[cydny]

wonderful wonderful idea.

 

No one was slighted by it though?

I would just be worried of that oh those rich americans type of attitude that we think we are helping type of thing.

 

My daughter would love to do this.

[Moxie75]

Glad to hear some of you are "stealing" my idea and doing things as well. It's been awhile since I posted but wanted to share. I was so touched by one of the children that was in Belize I wrote the American Embassy in Belize to try and get an address. Well I wrote them almost a month ago and was beginning to think I wasn't going to hear back from them. Well I came back from my Christmas break and found an email at my work address and I now have the little girls last name and address as well as a phone # and her parents names as well. I'm so happy. You see I've been wanting to "sponser" a child but the ads you see on TV scare me a bit and I wanted to make sure the child got ALL i sent which those ads they don't they get about half of what you send. So now I have this little girl whom I'm going to start sending care packages to I'm thrilled... Anyway happy travels and I hope you all get the same high I did from giving out these goodies.

 

God Bless..

Libby

[Is it just a Legend?]

What an AWESOME idea! I'm totally doing this the next time I cruise!!!

[suezyq50]

Such a great idea and very touching.

[WKM]

If anyone is traveling to Egypt take pencils. The children need them so badly. Two years ago we head on CC that the children needed pencils. That weekend we went to a cruise show. The Red Cross was giving out pencils, so I asked if they could spare some. I told them what we were going to do with them. They gave me huge boxes of them. You should have seen the kids come running when we gave them out. At one place I had a father come running from the fields asking for pencils for his two children. The teacher in one area come running to us to get pencils for his students. I gave him all I had in my backpack. He was so thankful. So if your traveling to Egypt. PENCILS, PENCILS, PENCILS

[gagirl2006]

What an awesome idea! Thanks for sharing!

[sarah_in_townsville]

my only thought it is.. what if you hand some gifts to some children.. them say 10 more come running at you and you dont have enough to give them all something?? I would feel so horrible.. but i can lug around hundreds of gifts ya know??

 

Whats the solution do you think?

[mstea]

:D What a GREAT IDEA I would have loved to do that in Costa Rica, boy, they need it bad....

I will do that next time for sure.... you made me have misty eyes.. My fear also is not having enough for all the children....??? :eek:

Spread the word, the more that does this the better for all....

We are so blessed....

[sandy toes]

There are always more children that need. We can only do what we can. I do disaster relief work. I used to come home feeling like I did not do enough. At Biloxi someone taught me, you do as much as you can then, it is up to the next person to pick up from there. Working 18+ hr days in NO, I adapted the new attitude. Came home very tired but felt I did something good for the people. The gift/goodie bags are a wonderful idea. Feel good that you are doing something. Try not to think about the ones you cannot reach. Give for the sake of giving and you will feel better than you can imagine. What a fantastic thread!!!!

[Sandytoes]

I have to share my story...

 

I was on the Carnival, Miracle sailing 9-3-06. I had gotten 20 gift packs together of Notebooks, Coloring Books, Colors, Glue Sticks, Pencils, Erasers, Pencil Sharpeners, lots of candy and gum.. I figured it up that I spent less than $30 on all 20 gift packs. I had found coloring books 4 for a dollar at the dollar tree and WalMart had a back to school sale and their notebooks were $.10 and colors were $.10 and glue sticks were 2 for $.20 a piece. I got the erasers, gum, candy and sharpeners at dollar tree. Well my parents thought I was crazy for bringing the extra weight and I tell you they regret thinking that now..

 

Libby

 

Libby,

Your well thought out gift bags couldn't have come at a better time for those starting school....There are children who go to school empty handed because their parents can't afford school supplies.

And by you taking the time and effort to think of those less fortunate makes you a very special person, God Bless You.

Sandytoes

[dobiemom]

This is a wonderful idea - Thanks moxie1975! I'll be going to the MR twice in the near future so I'll be doing this, also. I do have a few questions for all:

 

I know this sounds O-C, but do you use paper lunch-sized bags or cloth tote bags? Or gift bags with rope handles? How big? What do you suggest?

 

ldock: How big were these plastic baskets? How did you take them onshore? I'm imagining 40 "Toto" picnic baskets that had to be carried in several boxes.

 

[scharris]

My husband and I and our children have been on several cruises (5) and have never thought of this. It is such a great idea. I remember in Hondurus, the children selling peanuts and the conditions they lived in. That was 20 years ago and I will never forget those children. To take the opportunity when you are on vacation to do something special for others is truely a fantastic idea! We are greatful that we have the means to vacation and also want our children to know how luckey we are. By doing something to brighten someone elses day would make the vacation truely special.

 

Thank you for this post!!!

 

 

Chris

[cruiseaddictColleen]

We were on the NCL dawn ship in dec. during the x-mas week and I had also read on the boards about packing some little gifts for the children at the different stops we would have. So off I went to the dollar store & filled a bag of small gifts for both boys & girls. While in Honduras, it was so rewarding to see my 2 sons pass out these gifts to the children who are less fortunate. We would have the taxi driver stop if we saw a child sitting on their porch and to see the excitement on their little faces was something I will neverr forget! Word must have gotten out that we had presents because when we were walking around in "straw market" we were swarmed by kids asking for presents & I eventually ran out without enough to give everbody one.

[dobiemom]

On another thread (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=651624 page 3, post #41) they talk about items that “had to be put on a manifest with other items the ship was giving. Otherwise, the authorities look at it as smuggling.”

 

Captain Albert’s blog (http://www.avidcruiser.com/albert/?p=237 2nd paragraph) also mentions the putting donated items on the manifest.

 

Does this only apply to large items or items given to a charity? Certainly, small gift bags to local the children do not apply. What do you think?

[celbercrz333]

Moxie, You have a big heart and we can feel your joy.