Save the Kids

I did something the likes of which I've never done before.  I got involved in the community!  A friend of mine reached out to me along with some other women, and told us she booked Collin Kartchner to come to Seattle.  Collin is a youth advocate, TEDx speaker, and founder of the Save the Kids organization.  He's helping kids fight against social media and the mental health challenges it causes.  He travels around the country, speaking to audiences of both kids and adults and he is making a difference.  When my friend emailed, she said, "Collin is coming!  Now we have to raise money and find a venue.  Who's in?"  Well, I immediately responded before I even had time to think what that would mean.

For the past few weeks I've spent hours emailing businesses for sponsorship and working with the PTSA's at my kid's schools.  I emailed principals and school counselors and influential teachers, asking for their support.  It was awesome and discouraging at the same time.  Collin Kartchner is from Utah and is well-known there but he doesn't have the same following here, which I expected.  But I thought once people checked out his online presence and listened to his TED talk, they'd embrace the opportunity to support him.  Boy, was I was wrong!  And it stung.  The PTSA's at my kids school have tons of money and they didn't donate a dime towards the event.  It made me mad.
But at the end of the day, things worked out because the local businesses were happy to sponsor.  Two schools finally took up our offer to have him speak at an assembly (principals can do things even on short notice, although we were told otherwise) and we secured a venue for the evening presentation at the Sammamish Presbyterian Church and they didn't charge us for using their space.

Once the funding and venue were secured, I spent hours on social media promoting the event and putting fliers up around the community.  The night was a success with +800 attendees, a major traffic jam, and no place to park within a half-mile radius.  It was exciting!  There was a line of people waiting to get in that wrapped around the building and when we opened the doors, the chapel was filled within ten minutes.  We packed people in like sardines, brought in extra chairs, and had about 200 people standing in the lobby.

The lobby was packed!

Collin is a great presenter and is so engaging and funny.  He can also get serious really fast and you could hear a pin drop when he talked about some of the sad stuff.  Basically his message is:  Get off your phones and engage with each other!  Parents, get off your phones and love your kids.  Look at them, hug them, and talk to them.  He talked about how social media can be used for good and that there are three types of kids in the world.  Kids who MAKE things happen, kids who WATCH things happen, and kids who say, 'What happened?'

My boys weren't thrilled to attend the event or that I was the one behind it.  In fact, it was funny watching all the disgruntled teens walk in with their parents.  But they all left happy!  Collin has a way of making you feel empowered to be a force for good.  So even though Marcus says I think "phones are Satan's tool," I don't actually feel that way.  I just think that they have crept into our lives and done a ton of damage while we were all too busy staring at our screens to notice.  I have to monitor my screen time as an adult so naturally I'm going to have to monitor my kids and their screen time since they don't have the brain power to do it yet.  Hopefully they will learn by my example.  The day after Collin came, it felt a lot like the day after Christmas.  So much work leading up to one big day and then it was over.  I didn't know what to do with my time.  But one thing I'm sure of.  You can do a lot of good if you feel passionate about something and making a difference feels really good too!