Making a difference with pancakes… a 6-Year Old’s Story

An East Bay 6-year old named Glenn recently took it upon himself to put his family motto (“Be kind, smart, and generous”) into practice in response to the theme being talked about at his school—“How can we/I make a difference?”.

The joy of helping had been brought home to him in a very personal way in his 1^st grade class, when the teacher asked Who wants to make a difference in someone’s life? and just a few hands shot up. When she personalized it as a request to help a school staff person they all knew, Cassandra, many more hands shot up, but still a few did not. So the teacher asked the few remaining hold-outs (one was Glenn) to do the helping (carrying paper from a delivery truck to the office). When Cassandra saw them coming, she beamed and gushed with gratitude. Initially asked to each move a single ream of paper apiece, the kids got so excited about helping, they went back to finish the job—three and a half cases!

So, following in his family tradition of organizing creative community giving projects (yard sales, packing lunches to distribute on the street, lemonade stands), Glenn decided one way to make a larger difference would be to make some money and give it to charity. With his family, he rifled through the pros and cons of different ideas—making and selling drawings of cubes (a recently-acquired skill!), cookie or sandwich stand, cleaning houses—and when he struck on the idea of selling pancakes, that was it. Who doesn’t love pancakes? And so the Speshl Pankak Brekfist (Glenn's spelling) was born.

Glenn’s parents talked about who he wanted to help with the money he raised, and he knew he wanted to help families. Reading online about BOSS’s work with kids and families, he decided to donate the money to BOSS. Gradually, as he told more family members about it, they wanted to help, too. Glenn’s grandmother scrambled eggs. His grandfather was the ‘gopher’ for the day. His middle school-aged cousins entertained the younger kids with arts and crafts. Even better, some of the families who attended the breakfast said it got their own families talking about how to help others—one kindergartener took money from his own piggy bank to donate to BOSS!

Thank you, Glenn, and all your family and friends, for organizing such a unique and creative fundraising and awareness-raising event!

Do you want to share a special project you organized for BOSS—or would you like to set one up? Contact Sonja at (510) 649-1930 x 222, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .