Activity: The purpose of this activity is to teach children to be aware of the needs of others who are in difficult situations and to take some action to relieve their suffering. The teacher identifies a social service that this age group of children could perform. Some possibilities are: (1) collecting canned foods for the local food bank; (2) collecting money for UNICEF during Halloween -  if there is a program in your community, ask a representative to talk to your students about this organization and what it does to help children; (3) sponsoring a toy drive for underprivileged children - collect toys to give to a deserving organization in your community.

Materials needed: It depends on the social service organization the students will support. For example, if it’s collecting canned foods for the local food bank, a large collection container is needed in a visible place at the school. Make arrangements with the food bank for delivery of the cans. Ask a representative to come and talk to the students about the work they do and the population they serve. Make a chart with a T diagram, one section labeled “needs” and the other labeled “wants”. Prepare a letter explaining the project to send home. 

Directions: If you choose to do a food bank project, explain the project and why it’s important. Tell  students that they will bring a letter home so that family members and neighbors know how to support the project. Explain that over the next couple of weeks, students bring food to school and put it in the container. 

Initiate a discussion about needs and wants, with directions about what kinds of food products are accepted and why. Here are some questions for the needs and wants discussion: Teacher: “We will be filling out this chart about needs and wants. ‘Needs’ are what everyone needs in order to live. ‘Wants’ are what we’d like to have but can live without. Let me ask you some questions about this to see if you understand the difference.”

1. Share about what you and everyone need in order to be healthy and experience well-being.  Answer: nutritious food, a safe place to live that is protected from bad weather and anything will harm you, clothing, clean water for drinking, bathing, and cooking, clean air inside and outside the home, access to health care, a supportive family/community, access to education
2. Explain: “I wrote all these answers on the ‘Needs’ side of the T-diagram, so now let’s talk about each one and why it’s a need and not a want.” 
3. Ask students to share about some things that belong on the “Want” side of our T-diagram. 
4. Ask: “Do you ever see people where you live who don’t have the things they need? What do they need and what do you think we can do to help them?” 
5. Ask: “How do you think people who don’t have their needs met feel?” 
6. Ask: “Would it help them feel better if we were able to provide them with some help for their needs?”
7. Discuss: “In the story, ‘Lubna and Pebble’ we learned about how refugee children feel when they have to leave their home in order to be safe. Is there anything you can think of that might make a refugee child feel better and is there any way we can help them?” 

Wrap it up: Explain: “We’re collecting food for the needy and talking about needs and wants so that you can be more aware that there are people in our communities who have to worry every day about food, shelter and other needs. We feel compassion for them because they don’t always get the help they need and sometimes they are hungry, or don’t have a place to sleep, or are sick but aren’t able to pay for a doctor. As we understand more about their situation, we care more and want to help. It’s important to help out whenever we can.