In 2004, Graeme became acquainted with the work of Childrens Aid and fascinated with the social cause being addressed. He decided to volunteer for a three month period in Brazil as part of an exchange program supporting educational activities in Ananindeua (in the Amazon region).

Living in a community that experiences extreme poverty levels impacted him so deeply that it resulted in his long term commitment to Childrens Aid, focusing on funding raising activities to support children in the same situation as the ones he lived with.

Back to England with the challenge of raising funds in mind, Graeme came up with a rather unusual campaign for achieving his goal. He announced that he was going to offer his hair – which had been growing for 15 years – for the Brazilian children. Friends, family and people who were touched by his decision donated a total amount of 750 euros. Graeme not only brought the donation and the hair to Brazil, but he also stayed for a year working in various projects.

Today, many of our resources come from social events all around the world – such as festivals, concerts and sport matches – that are organized by volunteers, like Graeme.
You can also become part of our network of donors, volunteers and supporters. We are an experienced institution with expertise in various areas that needs your support, collaboration, inspiration and ideas. If you have specific ideas or projects that you would like to develop, we encourage you to come discuss it with us and we’ll make our resources available to you. We have successful models, institutional material, network of partners and lots of enthusiasm to guide you.

Some Suggestions 

Offer your professional expertise. You can offer your professional expertise to help us with our goals. Lawyers, teachers (yoga, math, physics, English, Spanish, chemistry, etc), cooking chefs, psychologists, journalists, accountants and many others are in great need. We are an expanding organization and we need great people to help us with matters that range from a particular project to a tax exemption registration process in a given country!

Do you own event to promote solidarity by organizing donation campaigns, festival and dinners, and spread a message of hope, enthusiasm and solidarity. At the same time, have fun and meet new people. We can assist you with making partnerships with local authorities and institutions. 

Alternative birthday gift. On your birthday, have your friends and relatives make a donation as a gift for the children you care for.

Art day. If you are an artists, gather your artists’ friends, make an exhibition and collect donations in whatever way you can think of.

Event engagement. Join our “birthday of the mouth” celebration by sponsoring a child and bring friends. 

“Put your hands in the dough!”. As one would say in Portuguese, “put your hands in the dough!” by accepting donations of educational materials, toys, and clothes or by helping us paint a classroom, drive kids to the cinema!

Need more ideas and inspiration? Here are more stories. 

 In 2006, Roberto Massao organized a competition of a Brazilian martial arts called Jiu-Jitsu that attracted 287 athletes to the stadium of Budokan, Japan. It became the first Childrens Aid Jiu-Jitsu Championship and it raised 2500USD and 70kg of schooling material that were sent to Brazil. The materials donated sponsored all kids from our projects for one school year while the funds were invested in sport projects at the orphanage of Avicres in Rio de Janeiro. His gesture was so powerful that the competition became an annual event for the years that followed. Click here to see the picture gallery. 

Hilary Holland is a happy lady from Teignmouth, UK who decided to contribute to our children. She offered her best talent and that was to make colorful teddy bears. Mrs Holland said to a British paper a few years ago: “Making teddy bears gives me great pleasure, because I know that the children of Rio de Janeiro and Amazon will appreciate it”. She became famous and organized a group of needling friends to help her with the growing demand.  Click here to read the article about Mrs. Holland.

Vanda has the incredible ability to awaken social consciousness wherever she goes. She works as a consultant at Dinsmore Associates – a company focused on project management – and decided to disseminate our mission to her colleagues at work. She began her social outreach by collecting donations from friends at her birthday. Subsequently, she formed a partnership at work to provide an Outdoor Training Experience (TEAL®), which is a human resources tool used for talent development at multinational companies, for a group of adolescents at the III Youth Reunion in July, 2009. Click here to find out more about the III Youth Reunion.

Aline Osorio and Bruno Pavanelli de Azeredo are two young college students pursuing a degree in law and engineering, respectively. Through the work of Onda Solidária in a community called Porto do Rosa, Rio de Janeiro - whose members make their living from the collection of recyclable waste at a nearby landfill – they have found out that local children have been kept from school and entire families have been denied access to public health care due to their inability to obtain the documents that a recognizes them as citizens. To address the problem, they develop the so called “Wave Project – Engaging Young Leaders for the Advancement of Citizenship” – that will bring light to those “invisible citizens” by legally recognizing them and by offering basic health care and information. They received a grant thought the Goldman Sachs Global Leaders Program which currently sponsors the program along with corporate parterns. Click here to know more about the Wave Project and how they are engaging children from Rio de Janeiro’s orphanages into their projects. Click here to find out more about the Wave Project.