The children - they are our future

For some rather industrious Daniel Island and Cainhoy peninsula youngsters, earning some extra cash goes well beyond a neighborhood lemonade stand.

 

Today’s youth are stretching their entrepreneurial muscles as well as showing a penchant for philanthropy.

 

In this week’s issue, pages 18-19, we share the stories of four young ladies who have focused their passions into home businesses and found a way to give back to the community.

 

Daniel Island’s Eliza Broad has founded Pickles 4 Life, producing jars of pickles for sale. Broad’s sales are growing and with it her generosity. As she started to turn a profit, she also started sharing them with organizations such as Ronald McDonald House.

 

Another budding business owner, Daniel Island resident Alice Beavan, has been making and selling tie-dyed face masks since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Her mask sales have allowed her to share the wealth by donating masks to a number of key essential and frontline workers. 

 

Even a good old-fashioned bake sale, like the one held by DI’s Ava Delpino and Lane Grizzle can lead to good deeds.

 

It’s tales like these that bring me joy to share.

 

And stories like these abound in our neighborhoods. Over recent months The Daniel Island News has shared such stories as the one about a family of brothers starting a car washing business to help support their family after their father’s passing. 

 

And we know there are so many more stories out there of kids performing acts of kindness. 

 

So as we look towards the future, as so much of this country looks to move past a contentious election season, past nearly a year of dark COVID-19 news, and past a business climate that is going to have to battle its way back in 2021, we want to share more of these stories of joy and kindness.

 

The Daniel Island News will begin publishing a regular feature highlighting kids’ acts of kindness — big and small. It could be another philanthropic business venture. It could be a fundraising campaign for a local homeless program. It could be donating their birthday money to a local charity. Or even as simple as raking a neighbor’s yard unasked or taking their baby brother to the park so mom can have a break. 

 

But we need you, dear readers, to tell us about those stories. And to make that easy 

for you, we’ve set up an online form at surveymonkey.com/r/KidsKindness. Complete the form and we’ll take care of the rest. This will be an ongoing project, so feel free to go to the survey anytime over the coming year.

 

You can also reach out directly to me at boots@thedanielislandnews.com.

 

SPEAKING OF JOY

 

A trend has erupted around the country — and reached our community — with people deciding they need a little joy in their lives sooner rather than later, putting up their holiday decorations well ahead of Thanksgiving. 

 

Jennifer Davis of Pierce Street has jumped on the bandwagon, with her yard already in full Christmas mode. She said the decorations make her happy and she wanted to share the joy.

 

Is decorating early a brilliant idea or major faux pas? That’s the question we’re posing in this week’s readers survey — so use the QR code or link on this page to tell us your thoughts.

 

Me? Certainly one string of lights can’t hurt, right? Though, like Lays potato chips, I’m not sure I can stop at just one.