How wise children with just pennies can make a HUGE difference to our world

Today, we learned about how children with a few resources could make the world a better place. I asked my students if they knew any inspiring stories of children to share with the class. They started to talk about my daughter's philanthropic mission to India and how this was instrumental in inspiring me to join Sravish Sridhar in "We Flap". My daughter graduated from their school last year and it pleased me that they looked to her as inspiration. Then, as they had no more stories to share, I shared one very inspiring story that moved me beyond words. It was the story of a 4 year old Nora Gross who had inspired her father Teddy Gross to start an organization called Commoncents (http://www.commoncents.org/) after she had shown kindness to a homeless man on the street. It had amazed me that this organization had the largest child philanthropy program in the United States called Penny Harvest where children between the ages of 4-14 who have a natural compassion for others have been collecting pennies and converting those pennies into grants for community organizations. I could not wait to show a video of their work to the kids.
http://www.commoncents.org/index.cfm?objectId=F3018731-3048-32DA-18746AC36ED53DA2

It was the longest video they had watched during our sessions but were interested nevertheless. The video was a great resource. It helped the students understand that, as children, they have the ability to look into their communities, see problems, ask questions, participate in decision making and help solve problems. Also, that loose change can make a huge difference in our world!