HELP FOR HAITI
Posted 01/20/2010
CALLING ALL SCHOOLS!
Brownies For Bedtime Fundraiser & Poster/Poetry Contest
Brownies For Bedtime is the latest story (soon to be book) in the Rodro series by author/illustrator Paul Rodriguez. In the story Rodro eats to many brownies and has terrible nightmares that help him to realize that not all kids are lucky enough to have all the brownies they can eat. By sharing his experience Rodro strives to help end domestic and international hunger and poverty by having schools across the country participate in the Brownie Bake Sale Fundraisers and the People Power Playground poster/poetry contest.
The idea for the fundraiser is simply for participating classrooms and schools to have a bake sale featuring brownies based on a recipe featuring ingredients from Haitian cooking as well as low fat recipes and other standards. Consolidated bake sale founds from schools across the country will be used to purchase school meals and playgrounds for children in areas of Haiti affected by the earthquake and perhaps for other needy communities here and abroad. All money raised by participating schools is to be held by the school until the details for the school meals or the recipient of the donated playground are confirmed and the final purchase arrangements are made.
The People Power Playground poster contest is intended to be a fun way for children to think about how different playground toys might be designed to do something positive for the planet. Participants are encouraged to invent the coolest most fun and outrageous, fantasy playground toy which somehow pumps water, generates electricity, recycles paper plastic or another material, or somehow fights air pollution or global warming. Classrooms that participate can then combine their individual toys and design their own original People Power Playground. For students that prefer writing to drawing they may compose a poem from the theme Food & Fun For All. Students are also welcome to do both.
The top 3 posters and poems will receive a signed draft of the Brownies For Bedtime story and a Rodro certificate of Positive Thinking. I will also include a copy of the winning posters and poems in Rodro’s Gallery of Positive Thinkers on the Rodro website.
The contest and fundraisers may be conducted at participating schools according to their schedules. Winners may be determined by teachers or students votes. If schedules allow Paul Rodriguez the author of the Brownies For Bedtime story and program coordinator would be delighted to make a complimentary visit to your school to do a presentation based on the story and be a part of the awards ceremony.
• Poster entries should be no larger than 18”x24”
• They may be in any medium except food.
• Remember kids, please do the poster yourself. (It’s OK for your parents to help you but it’s not OK for you to help your parents.)
• Poems should be no more than one page in length.
For more info please contact Paul Rodriguez:
631-588-6269, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Paul Rodriguez Rough Draft 1/30/10
Brownies For Bedtime (4) W/C: 925
BROWNIES FOR BEDTIME
(Caring & Sharing)
[Town fair/fundraiser]
Rodro- Help! Buy a brownie! We need a new playground!
The old one in town is the worst one around.
We need a slide at least 50 feet high.
And the best swing set that money can buy.
Mayor- The kids in our town need a fun place to go
A safe place where parents can watch their kids grow.
[Some one hands the Mayor an envelope.]
Here’s some more money. Add this to the count.
Then you can total the final amount.
Mayor- We did it! Our bake sale has just hit the mark.
We raised enough money to fix up our park.
Our children’s new playground is going to be great!
The best in our town! The best in our state!
Rodro- Mom, since our fundraiser turned out so well,
Can I eat the brownies we don’t have to sell?
Mom- Maybe when all of your homework is done,
Just before bedtime, I’ll let you have one.
Later at home with his homework complete
Rodro was testing how much he could eat.
His mother said, “What are you trying to do?
You’re gonna be sick if you eat more than two.”
Rodro said, “Watch I can eat a whole ton.”
But his tummy felt crumby before he was done.
Well, needless to say he went early to bed.
His stomach was aching and so was his head.
He twisted and turned and he counted some sheep.
And his tummy played tricks on his brain in his sleep.
Munching on brownies the size of a goat
He drank so much milk that he started to float.
Next he was dreaming of sliding and swinging,
jumping and climbing and spinning and singing.
But something went wrong and the playground went gray.
The sky looked like mid-night instead of mid-day.
Alone in the scary black darkness of night
He stumbled about and could not find the light.
He finally clicked on a flashlight he found
But he wasn’t happy when he turned around.
Afraid in his bedroom he saw nothing there.
No bed and no pillow. No desk and no chair.
No posters, no dresser and nothing to wear.
His toy chest had vanished right into thin air.
He said to himself, “Whoa, how can this be?”
And jumped when he heard someone he didn’t see.
[other person in Rodro’s room]
Dude! I need sleep. Can you please keep it down?
If you talk any louder you’ll wake the whole town.
Well Rodro was scared but confused even more.
It looked like himself on a mat on the floor.
Who’s that in my bedroom and where is my bed?
“I’m laying right on it,” the other voice said.
You’re not very funny. Who took all my toys?
They’re right over there. Now stop making noise.
Those aren’t my toys. Now how can it be
That you look and sound exactly like me?
I am just like you. You’re just like me too.
Except, I don’t have all the things that you do.
No cell phone?
No.
How do you call a friend?
I walk up the block. They live right at the end.
No playground?
No.
Where do you go to play?
Right there, in the empty lot over that way.
What about homework?
I don’t go to school.
Are you kidding me dude? That’s totally cool.
Not really, I work to help feed us instead.
My family can barely afford to buy bread.
What about games? What do you like to do?
I love to play soccer (football).
Really me too!
So Rodro and Rodro as strange as it seems
Played soccer together right there in his dreams.
They had a great time with that old soccer ball.
Nothing else, they found out, was needed at all.
After a while they went back inside
Where Rodro’s idea made his eyes open wide.
If I’m just like you and you’re just like me too
A brownie will taste super yummy to you.
A brownie? Is that something you like to eat?
You got that one right dude! They’re totally sweet!
You’ll love them also. There’s plenty to spare.
Trust me on that one. They’re right over there.
But when he looked up there was no over there,
No door and no kitchen, no brownies to share.
Where are they hiding? Who took all my brownies?
Whoever did this; you’re not very funny!
“Who took my brownies?” Came hollers and screams.
Till finally his mom woke him from his bad dreams.
He told her his nightmares while scratching his head.
He mentioned his twin. He was puzzled and said,
“Could that really happen? Oh how can it be?
He looked and he sounded exactly like me!”
“They’re only bad dreams.” His mom had to say.
“But sadly some children, do live that way.
Some kids on this planet who look just like you
Do not have a lot of the things that you do.”
Rodro- We can’t let them starve. That’s a horrible crime.
Let’s send them all of our brownies for bedtime.
Then let’s go gather the whole town around
And vote on giving those kids our new playground.
Mom- That’s wonderful Rodro. I’m quite proud of you.
To give, when you want, is not easy to do.
Everybody must share. It’s good that you know
that when you help others it helps you to grow.
But I think brownies are best left for snack time
That way you children can sleep fine at bedtime.
That’s also how we’re going to stop your bad dreams
And rip all your nightmares apart at the seams.
Please get this past that sweet tooth in your head —
From now on, no brownies for you before bed!
This story is written in honor of the people of Haiti
and all other impoverished peoples around the world.
Let’s feed everyone and then go out and play!