I am a Ripple Kid because: I organized a neighborhood cleanup party .

Here's how I'm taking action in my community (tell us a few more details about what you're doing): I got some of my neighbors together to pick up trash around our neighborhood. We got a local business to donate trash bags and rubber gloves and a local pizza place gives us lunch when we're all done.

Here's how I got the idea: One day when we were out playing, my friend cut his hand on a piece of glass from a bottle that someone left lying on the sidewalk. We got tired of playing with a bunch of garbage lying around.

These are the steps I took:

1. I asked my friend for help.
2. I told my dad what we wanted to do and he gave us some ideas.
3. We went to a local grocery store and told them we would clean up the area around their store if they would donate the bags and gloves.
4. We went to a local pizza place and told them what we were doing. They offered to give us enough pizza to feed everyone that helped us.
5. We picked a date and a time.
6. We talked to all our neighbors and asked for volunteers.
7. On that day, we all met in front of my house and started cleaning!

These are the people who volunteer with me (check all that apply):

__I work alone
_X_My family
_X_My friends
__A group (please tell us who they are): my school

One of the coolest things that happened during my project was: A few people who saw us picking up trash, asked us what we were doing and asked if they could help. The neighbors were so happy that they want to do it every month. We will take turns organizing it.

One of the most important things I learned was: don't be afraid to ask people for help. If you believe in what you're doing, people will want to help you.