In recent weeks, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, there were stories and images of horrific tragedy and great heroics as in any disaster. One story is perhaps meager but no less heroic effort on the part of some children based in Davie Florida. They’ve launched a website urging other children to help with the relief effort by donating their lunch money.
Lunchmoney4Katrina.com was created by two brothers, Shep and Robbie Berg to allow children to talk about and help in the ongoing relief effort to help with the shock and awe left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. They believe that if every child could give up their lunch money for even a day, the impact would be enormous.
“We wanted to do something to help, and give other children the same opportunity,” said Shep Berg, 15. “There’s not much that one kid can do, but together, we can really make a difference. We hope that they will find this site and learn how they can be a part of this important relief effort.”
Children can chat, donate money and can contribute to the overall effort coming from around the world to help those victims of this horrible disaster.
The donations much be approved by parents and the funds go directly to the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund. The website give children an opportunity to express their view point and the brothers are hoping to get some children in the disaster to share their experiences.
“Many of the children from Mississippi and Louisiana are living in new homes, new towns, new states, and hopefully they will have Internet access,” said Robbie Berg, 13. “This web site encourages them to tell us about what they’ve been through and how they are managing.”
Design and support of the site were all provided free of charge, and all donations are made directly to the charity. According to the Bergs, the name lunchmoney4katrina was selected because they feel that other kids will understand the sacrifice of giving away a day or a week’s lunch money. The site also provides a chat area, where kids can talk about their feelings about the Hurricane, a photo gallery, general hurricane information and a welcome message from the brothers.
This is a great way for even the youngest to get involved. Many young people have wondered what they can do to help and this website, started by these two teenage boys could provide that opportunity.
John Stith is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
