I am a Ripple Kid because: I had a bake sale to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina

Here's how I'm taking action in my community (tell us a few more details about what you're doing): We had a family at our school that was transferred to Louisiana just before the hurricane hit. Some friends and I got together and came up with ideas to raise money for our friends.

Here's how I got the idea: I kept seeing all those families that lost their homes on TV and my mom kept in touch with the family. They told us they lost everything – all of their new furniture, their car, and all of their toys. I felt badly that they had nothing, so I decided to do something.

These are the steps I took:

1. Asked my friends for help in coming up with an idea
2. Asked my mom for help in organizing it
3. Assigned everyone a job
4. Picked a date and a location
5. Sent out a flier at school (after asking my principal), asking if anyone wanted to donate baked goods
6. Made a list of the other things we needed besides food –tables, signs, napkins, etc
7. Collected the baked goods and met the day before to wrap them up
8. Arrived at our location early to set up.
9. We asked for donation only, instead of pricing everything individually. It made our job easier, I think we earned more money
10. Cleaned up and counted the money
11. Had my mom send a check to the family with a card signed by everyone who helped.

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: Seeing everyone pull together for such a great cause. People were so generous, giving much more money that the food they took.

One of the most important things I learned was: Each one of us made a difference not only for the family who lost everything, but also for those who might have heard or seen what we did, and did something on their own