As parents, we naturally want to give our children the tools they need to succeed in this world. We teach them to be kind, to have manners, to be courageous. We do our best to give them access to quality education, first-rate health care, an abundance of love, a closet full of warm clothes, plus extras like birthday presents, family vacations, and toys—the list could go on and on. While each of these are available in varying degrees for different families—and while some may struggle more than others—children here in the U.S. have it pretty good, globally speaking. They have access to education, clean drinking water, and they don’t live in a state of warfare or oppression.
This puts them in the ideal situation to help the most vulnerable around the globe. It’s crucial that we instill in them an understanding of the wider world so that they can become the kind of compassionate, empathetic, and determined individuals needed to change our world for the better. That’s where Little Voice Are Loud comes in.
Started by Deena Neimat and Suzanna Hendricks, Little Voices Are Loud educates children on the world around them, empowering them to become global activists. The idea came from Neimat who spent summers in the Middle East as a child and who now raises her three kids in the United States with her husband. She yearned for the resources to expose her kids to the world outside of their safe reality but came up empty handed, thus deciding to take matters into her own hands. Through the Little Voices Are Loud changemaker boxes, kids can now learn how their ‘little voices’ can have an impact on the world, in a big way.
Little Voices Are Loud offers three changemaker boxes for kids that coincide with three different partner charities: the peace changemaker box, environment changemaker box, and equality changemaker box. Each box—decorated with hopeful messages and doubling as a fundraising tool—contains an activist t-shirt, educational resources related to the corresponding partner charity, a canvas bag, and changemaker map, filled with ideas on how to create change in their community. The boxes educate the next generation on global issues and encourage them to get involved at a local level while giving five percent of the profits to the charity partners.
International Justice Mission (IJM), the peace partner for Little Voices Are Loud, is the largest anti-slavery and anti-violence organization in the world. With 45 million people currently captive in slavery, IJM works to free those in captivity, bring their captors to justice, and offer rehabilitation for those affected. So far, IJM has rescued 28,000 people and protects 21 million worldwide.
The environmental partner, Charity: Water, gives 100% of their proceeds to providing clean water for communities in need in developing countries. With 663 million people without access to clean, safe water around the globe, Charity: Water provides this basic necessity crucial to human life.
The Malala Fund, the equality partner, supports girls’ education around the world through their mission for 12 years of safe, quality schooling. More than 130 million girls around the world are not in school for various reasons including war, poverty, and discrimination. The Malala Fund works to create policy changes, offer resources, and empower young females to use their voices.
It’s easy to get started with Little Voices Are Loud—just purchase a changemaker box and you’re on your way to enlightening your kiddos on the global issues affecting vulnerable populations. Changemaker boxes can also be natural teaching companions for any classroom to jumpstart charitable action on a local level. Either way, education is the best way to promote change and foster compassion in our young and impressionable children who will soon be the leaders of our world.
It’s your turn to let your kids know that “Little Voices Are Loud”. Visit littlevoicesareloud.com to get started.
Learn more about Little Voices Are Loud partners:
International Justice Mission
Charity: Water
Malala Fund
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