THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
I am proud to report that the Scout Group of which I am the Akela – First Wandsworth – raised £1,500 for the International Red Cross in just two hours.
A group of 8 to 10-year-olds baked cookies, biscuits and cakes. Decorated them with the blue and yellow colors of Ukraine. Set up a table on Wandsworth Common. Raised the Ukrainian flag and produced homemade collecting tins and mobile phones for credit card payments.
They were mobbed. They were also enthused and motivated to do more. And they will.
The young people of this country are one of its most under-utilized charity resources. They may not have the cash but they have the energy and the smiling cherubic faces that pull the heart-strings of the Scroogest of Scrooges.
Our children want to help. They do not want to be talked down to or patronize. They want to do more than play computer games. They want to understand and be part of the world. Point them in the right direction. They will take off like willing rockets and grow to better persons because of it.
Of course, use discretion. They very young should continue be encouraged to continue to be protected from the real world by parents, grandparents and teachers. But when they start to read and listen to the news and talk among themselves they demand to be told more. And when there is a war they want to do more. Let them.
There are an estimated 54 million scouts in 172 countries. Almost all of those countries support Ukraine. The average size of a scout group is 20 which means that if all of these scout groups were as successful as First Wandsworth then £59.15 billion would be raised over night for Ukraine. And I am not included Girl Scouts and Girl Guides.
Scouts are only one youth organization. There are the schools. In the UK there are 20,086 primary schools, 87,096 in the US. There are 4,190 Secondary schools in the UK and 26,417 high schools in America. Oh, and don't forget the college and university students – millions of them.
Each of these educational establishments have clubs. And then there are clubs and sporting activities separate from schools: Sunday School, baseball, football, rugby, dance, computers, chess, poetry, cricket, tennis, film clubs, woodworking… Almost every child belongs to a club, attends church, plays a sport or is a scout. Only a handful of home schooled children do not attend a school.
Teachers, parents, coaches, club leaders can arm them with collection tins and mobile phones that take credit card payments. Put them in the town centers with their faces painted blue and yellow. Let them do what they do best - make noise and a nuisance. It is for a great cause.
Place them at the entrance stiles of football grounds or let them stalk the queues outside theaters and concerts. Put them at the railway stations to grab the heart strings of commuters. It is difficult to refuse a young sincere person thrusting out a collection tin and pronouncing in Oliverian tones: "More, please sir."
Tom Arms has spent half a century writing about world affairs. He is the foreign editor of Liberal Democrat Voice, and the author of The Encyclopedia of the Cold War and the recently published America Made in Britain.
For more on How To Help Ukraine:
How To Help Ukraine, Part 1To Donate To the Disasters Emergency Committee Humanitarian Appeal for Ukraine Click Here
Ukraine: Where Are We Going?
