Free the Children

As a 12-year-old in Canada, Craig Kielburger read about a child slave in Pakistan who escaped but was murdered after speaking out against child servitude. Moved to act, Kielburger rounded up 11 friends in his living room, with no money or well-heeled benefactors, to try and fight child labor.

Two decades later, Free the Children is the "world's largest network of kids helping kids," says Kielburger. Engaging 2 million volunteers a year -- almost all under 18 -- it's evolved into a diverse relief and development organization, as leaders have followed logical pathways of problem solving, Watch Kielburger's brother Marc, for instance, talk about why building schools isn't enough to get girls to school in Africa.

Kid volunteers are recruited through schools -- organizing bakes sales, car washes & other fundraisers -- and at celeb-studded "We Days" that gather stadiums full of young students. Some 2,400 a year end up getting so involved that they travel abroad on service projects.

But even something as simple as donating birthday money, a piggy bank's contents, or mere pocket change has an impact.  "That adds up to millions and millions of dollars ...for our projects," Kielburger told "60 Minutes" in November. It's a reminder that kids need not start a charity -- or even a fundraising project -- to help other kids.

"A penny is almost like a kid," he added. "People walk past pennies all the time and ignore them ... Can they really make a difference? But when you bring enough young people, enough kids together, then suddenly those kids can change the world."

Let Freedom Ring

Think slavery is dead? Think again. According to the International Justice League, human trafficking yields over $32 billion a year for those who "by force and deception, sell human lives into slavery and sexual bondage." Stunningly, modern-day slaves outnumber those of the horrific trans-Atlantic slave trade era -- and include, today, nearly 2 million children exploited in the commercial sex industry.

At the ripe old age of 12, now-young-adult Zach Hunter created the "Loose Change to Loosen Change" campaign, enlisting students everywhere in gathering spare change from their homes, pockets & family cars to donate to the International Justice League's anti-slavery work. The IJM works on 4 fronts: victim relief, perpetrator accountability, survivor aftercare, and "structural transformation" to prevent future abuse and enslavement.

It's so easy for kids to help. Just order "Loose Change to Loosen Chains" materials, and get started.

Change It Up

Coin drives are such a simple, tangible way for kids to help other kids, demonstrating how small gestures can add up to something much bigger. Seattle's Wellspring Family Services -- which addresses the interlocking issues of mental health challenges, domestic violence, and homelessness -- is offering area kids a chance to create change by collecting change. Wellspring's Kids Helping Kids coin drive runs through September 1, 2011, and even gives entrants a chance to win their own original song by acclaimed kids' artist Caspar Babypants -- aka Chris Ballew of The Presidents of the United States of America.

Buddy Can You Spare a Quarter?

That's all it takes to feed a homeless child breakfast, Denver restaurateurs Tammy and Noel Cunningham were shocked to learn 20 years ago, when they launched the Quarters for Kids campaign to mobilize young philanthropists in Denver.

Over the past few weeks, students from 33 area schools raised almost $20,000 to feed homeless children in Denver shelters. Contributors won the right to wear hats to school, listen to their iPods in study hall, chew gum in class, and other enticements dreamed up by student leaders.

The mayor declared this Monday Quarters for Kids day, and the Cunninghams opened their eatery, Strings, to participating kids for a celebratory breakfast.

In its two-decade history, Quarters for Kids has raised about half a million dollars (!) for this fantastic cause, and inspired thousands of kids to help their homeless peers. Amazing what a quarter will buy.

(photo: Kristin Morin via the Denver Post)

Small Change, Big Change

Back in 1994, when Greg Mortenson of the Central Asia Institute wanted to build his first school in remote Pakistan, he had trouble bringing adult supporters on board. Kids? No problem.

Mortenson's mom, Jerene, invited him to give a slide show and speech to 600 students at Westside Elementary School in River Falls, Wisc., where she was principal. "When they saw the pictures," Mortenson wrote in his bestseller Three Cups of Tea, "they couldn't believe that there was a place where children sat outside in cold weather and tried to hold classes without teachers."

A month later, his mom sent him a check for $623.45--from the Westside kids, as a first step toward building the school in Pakistan. Her students had spontaneously launched a "Pennies for Pakistan" drive, filling two 40-gallon trashcans. "They [contributed] something that is basically worthless in our society--pennies," wrote Mortenson. "But overseas, pennies can move mountains."

Since those early days, the penny drive--now called Pennnies for Peace--has grown to include thousands of schools worldwide. Only pennies are collected so that everyone can contribute, regardless of income. Students in the developed world learn they can be philanthropists, have a positive impact on a global scale, even fight terrorism. "Teaching girls to read and write reduces the ignorance and poverty that fuel religious extremism," Mortenson wrote in a November '09 Parade magazine essay, "and lays a groundwork for prosperity and peace."