{"id":588,"date":"2017-10-20T11:47:42","date_gmt":"2017-10-20T18:47:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/?p=588"},"modified":"2017-10-20T11:48:09","modified_gmt":"2017-10-20T18:48:09","slug":"supporting-our-children-in-times-of-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/2017\/10\/supporting-our-children-in-times-of-disaster\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting Our Children In Times Of Disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By Annie Makela, Director of the Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Eden Maisel, Service Learning Coordinator<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/helperswww.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-592\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/helperswww.jpg?resize=400%2C600\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/helperswww.jpg?w=400 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/helperswww.jpg?resize=200%2C300 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a>The past two months, we have seen multiple hurricanes in Houston, Florida, and Puerto Rico, and then just this past week, we have witnessed a devastating fire that continues to impact the entire Bay Area. We have experienced this most recent disaster differently than others, as it has been close enough to actually impact our daily activities. Many of us know friends and family that have been forced to evacuate and experienced loss. \u00a0Some of our own families were even evacuated with the latest Bear Fire.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At Hillbrook, we are fortunate to be part of a community that is deeply connected to social impact work. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hillbrook.org\/page\/the-power-of-hillbrook\/the-scott-center-for-social-entrepreneurship\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and our service learning program across all grade levels support students as they ask, \u201cwhat matters most to me right now? What am I going to do about it?\u201d These programs and the experiences they provide, give a space for students to voice their questions, thoughts, and concerns for what is happening in our world and support them as they transform their thoughts into projects. This can help children find a place and feel involved as they would like to be in disaster relief efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We recognize students will respond differently based on a multitude of factors. Our goal at Hillbrook is to provide on-going support and opportunities for students to understand how to make an impact in the world. <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Pointing out \u201cthe helpers\u201d as Mr. Rogers reminded us many years ago, is always a great way to remind our students that in times of need, communities come together and support one another. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our school\u2019s service learning program and the launch of the Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Hillbrook \u00a0provide the platform and infrastructure for ongoing support and exploration as students navigate how they might each make an impact in our world. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Disaster relief efforts are urgent and ongoing. There are many people working to keep our communities safe. You can continue to brainstorm ways to support efforts with your child and family. Here are some suggestions and resources:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Research<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Children will most likely have questions. It is helpful to provide enough details about what is happening without creating worry. Using a few specific details such as location and name can be helpful. \u201cThe hurricane hit Houston, Texas. The hurricane is called Hurricane Harvey.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Educate<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learning specific facts about the disaster is helpful to some children. This can include the date that the event occurred, how long the disaster lasted, and a few updates along the way. You may also want to reference this <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthychildren.org\/English\/family-life\/Media\/Pages\/Talking-To-Children-About-Tragedies-and-Other-News-Events.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">article from HealthChildren.org<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as a starting point for talking to your children about your day and the things that matter to you. You can find this and other resources at the end of this post.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Advocate<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Write a letter to a government official sharing your hopes of support of a community in need; \u00a0shop local brands, especially from companies in areas where disasters have hit; check-out kid-friendly fundraising events; shows acts of kindness and gratitude to first responders and disaster relief service workers by writing thank you letters or sharing a gratitude video on social media , creating a \u201cthank you\u201d \u00a0yard sign or exchanging a wave, hug or high five.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Donate<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your time, expertise, goods, and funding. After much exploration on disaster relief sites, it comes as no surprise that what most organizations need in times of disaster relief is money. Long term relief is a bit different. It is often in the weeks after disaster that non-monetary needs are assessed. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Resources:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthychildren.org\/English\/family-life\/Media\/Pages\/Talking-To-Children-About-Tragedies-and-Other-News-Events.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Talking to your child about tragedies<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/caitria_and_morgan_o_neill_how_to_step_up_in_the_face_of_disaster#t-542363\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to Step Up in Time of a Disaster<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kidshealth.org\/en\/parents\/volunteer.html\">How families can get involved in times of need<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Annie Makela, Director of the Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Eden Maisel, Service Learning Coordinator The past two months, we have seen multiple &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","content-type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,184,187],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parent-education","category-social-entrepreneurship","category-the-scott-center-for-social-entrepreneurship"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":594,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588\/revisions\/594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}