Shopping for Charity

Wow! I just got back from a shopping trip with three 9 year old boys (and the rest of the 3rd grade) to the local market (the Chinese small town equivalent of the mall). This market has about 50-75 stalls, each individually owned. Some are small (10ftx10ft) and some are bigger (20ftx20ft). They sell clothes, shoes, toiletries, toys, household items, etc. Each shop has it's own specialty.

Our school is teaching community service and giving back to the community in which we live. So last month they had a Move-a-Thon and raised 100,000 RMB (about $14,000!). This month they are going shopping for items they will donate to local children in need. So today we took the bus to the local market about 10 minutes from the school.

My group of three had a total of 900 RMB ($130) to spend. With that we bought:
- 3 backpacks
- 6 winter coats
- 3 earmuffs
- 3 hats
- 4 scarves
- 3 pairs of gloves
- 3 pencil boxes
- 6 pencils
- 3 pencil sharpeners
- 6 pens
- 3 notebooks
- 3 erasers
- 3 pads of paper
- 3 sets of crayons
- 3 small bouncy balls
- 3 stuffed animals
- 1 basketball
- 1 soccer ball

The kids were SO excited that we were able to buy SO much. They went shop to shop picking things out and buying them. They will bring them back to the school and put the items they picked out in the backpack. Then each kid in need will get a backpack stuffed with stuff!

We are also giving a huge economic boost to the local market, as each grade will be doing similar shopping trips.
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