Every student can use a new laptop
and this is especially true for children in Rwanda.
The Betty Crocker Fruit Flavored Snacks Win & Give campaign has placed nearly TWO THOUSAND brand new XO laptops in the hands of Rwandan children through the involvement of families like us here in America. Families who involved their children by entering UPC codes from General Mills food packaging were directly part of this historic donation of these most important (and hard to afford) school supplies: laptop computers.
Our kids believe that efforts like this — philanthropic, hands-on ways in which they can directly be involved in altruism — are extremely important. Check out the results from the Kids Altruism Indicator conducted by Parenting magazine and Betty Crocker Fruit Flavored Snacks.
The Win & Give campaign has truly been a win-win partnership. Rwandan children are using XO laptops in their classrooms, and American children have learned about the importance of helping other kids like them. Check out this cool interactive video of just how Rwandan school children use their computers!
What is an XO laptop? Why is it a great first laptop for kids?
“A small machine with a big mission. The XO is a potent learning tool designed and built especially for children in developing countries, living in some of the most remote environments. It’s about the size of a small textbook. It has built-in wireless and a unique screen that is readable under direct sunlight for children who go to school outdoors. It’s extremely durable, brilliantly functional, energy-efficient, and fun.
“The laptop easily assumes any of several configurations: standard laptop use, e-book reading, and gaming. Its wireless antennas, which far outperform the typical laptop, double as external covers for the USB ports, which are protected internally as well. The display is also cushioned by internal “bumpers.”
“The estimated product lifetime is at least five years. To help ensure such durability, the machines are being subjected to factory testing to destruction, as well as field testing by children.
“Designed collaboratively by experts from academia and industry, the XO is the product of the very best thinking about technology and learning. It was designed with the real world in mind, considering everything from extreme environmental conditions such as high heat and humidity, to technological issues such as local language support”
— One Laptop per Child website
To celebrate the success of this campaign and help spread the word, Betty Crocker Fruit Flavored Snacks is happily giving ONE A Parent in America reader family their own XO laptop computer!
To win, leave one comment on this post stating a way YOUR children find helping others rewarding!
After leaving a comment, you can gain additional chances to win:
- Leave a comment on the new A Parent in America Facebook page with your best tip for getting your kids involved in helping others!
- Upload a photo to A Parent in America on Facebook showing your child helping others or using a computer!
- Share this XO laptop giveaway and the Win & Give campaign on Twitter. Suggested Tweet: @BettyCrocker is giving children laptops at Winonegiveone.com & YOU can win one too @jessicaAPISS http://aparentinamerica.com/
- Subscribe to A Parent in America via e-mail. New content will be delivered right to your inbox.
The winner will be drawn from all comments, as well as additional forms of entry, on April 22, 2026 at midnight.
Many thanks to WinOneGiveOne, General Mills, Betty Crocker, the Betty Crocker Fruit Flavored Snacks team and One Laptop per Child for coming together for this fantastic mission!
No compensation of product or funds were received in exchange for hosting this giveaway. Facebook is in no way connected with this sweepstakes.
Comments
Elaine
We bring donations in to the school food pantry regularly. Understanding that all people have a right to have enough to eat is a really simple thing for kids to understand.
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Elena
Oh Jessica, I love this-and everything the One Laptop per Child campaign stands for! We spend a lot of time talking about giving back as a family and as individuals. It used to be a lot of my (or our) modeling of ways to give back and why it feels good to help others, but in the last year or so, Principessa has started to do it herself naturally especially when it comes to helping other children- making piles of her own books or toys so that other children might be able to use them.
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IlinaP
This is an outstanding program! My son has one of these that my dad got for him a while ago. It was some deal where you could buy one and donate one. It was the springboard to start giving back in ways other than just monetarily (which is also important, and both my boys donate half their piggy bank savings on their birthday every year). My sons are volunteering at the local food bank this weekend. Last year they came up with the idea to have a lemonade stand to benefit Japan (one son takes Japanese in school.). They raised over $200 that afternoon!
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Shana D
My daughter (5) loves to donate toys and clothes. She understand that not everyone is as fortunate as we may be & she wants to help bring a smile to another little girls face. I know she is only five but she has such a big heart and a great understanding of how things work sometimes.
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jodifur
We have Michael clean out his toys twice a year and donate to the children “who don’t have toys.”
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jodifur
Tweeted!
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Erin
Woo hoo! I’m so excited about this. I subscribed and liked on FB and everything else. YAY… thanks for this Jessica.
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Caroline
Jessica, I love what you are doing here! Congratulations on your new blog-I’m so proud of you. You never cease to amaze me.
We often “share” our clothes and toys. I have taken our eldest to stock food at the local food bank. Last Christmas, we accepted fewer toys and donated toys, markers, crayons, etc. to The Children’s Hospital. I don’t always know how “rewarding” they find these activities (though they never complain-so I take that as a good sign! :)), however, I hope they will learn over time the importance of giving and serving.
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Thien-Kim
S’s school is collecting money for kids with cancer and S has impressed me. She took her own money out of her piggy bank to donate!
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Carmela
Here in Tucson the Ben’s Bells (bensbells.org) project is a wonderful way people are recognized for their kindness. My children enjoy assisting other community volunteers prepare bells that will go out into the community to honor those who are kind and to share how intentional kindness impacts so many.
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Stacy
Love this new site!
I tweeted and Facebook commented too.
My kids are only 2 & 4 … a little young to really help others but I’m teaching them by doing good deeds myself and by making giving back to others and our community a family tradition and regular activity.
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Donna George
My children have always assisted me in our outreach to the homeless. Along with our church, we provide meals twice a month to the local homeless shelter for men, women, and children, sometimes totally more than 400 people. My kids help me prepare and serve the food. They also give their outgrown toys to the children at the shelter, sometimes toys they aren’t quite finished playing with. It is very inspiring!
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Lucia
My kids are 9 months and 5 years. With the older one, we’ve been focusing on little things like saying good morning to the neighbors or trying to cheer up a friend who seems sad.
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Lindsay
we are always donating toys and clothes we don’t use anymore and helping out at Miriam’s Kitchen (food kitchen in DC) … what a great giveaway and i’m so excited about your new venture!
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J.J.
Though my kids give in many ways, I was most recently proud of a very simple way that JavaBoy gave. His school has a book fair and we gave him a certain dollar amount to spend any way he wanted. He wanted to buy one more item, but didn’t have enough money to do so. He decided to put the remaining money in a donations jar at the cash register. When I asked him why he said, “The sign said not all kids could afford good books, and I have lots and lots of good books and I think all kids should have good books like I do!” No one prompted him to do this, he could’ve come home and asked me for more money to make up the difference between what he had leftover and what he needed to buy that last coveted item, but instead he understood both the value of “good books” and helping others. It was a proud parenting moment! I have loved the XO laptops and the one laptop per child initiative ever since a friend showed them to me — what a fabulous start to your new site! Congratulations!
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Stimey
Does it count if it is a cat? There is a pet store here that has cats from a rescue organization for adoption. The pet store supplies them with food, but they rely on volunteers for everything else. Whenever we go there, my kids want to pet the cats. The last time, when it was just my youngest and I, he really wanted to help the cats, so we bought them some treats and toys and he fed them. He talked for days about, “I helped the cats who don’t have homes.” It was really cool.
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Robin (noteverstill)
My sweet six-year-old got so into her school’s jump-roping fundraiser for heart disease prevention that she went door-to-door in our neighborhood to houses we don’t know at all, even though she’s really very shy. I was so proud of her!
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Denise
Jessica, you amaze me - where do you find the time! Thanks for all you do for busy parents everywhere! And I love the idea of this program - my kids are ages 11, 11 and 13 and are very interested in kids elsewhere. They are just developing that sense of worldliness that will hopefully continue to evolve as they grow into giving, caring young men. Thanks again!1
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Jessica
Wow! What a great way to use innovation to help out those who need it.
My little guy is only 2 so he hasn’t really gotten the whole “helping others” idea yet, but we do try and show him by example. We take his gently used toys and donate them to shelters when we can, and his old clothes get repackaged and gifted to his younger cousins. I always make sure he knows that the people who receive his stuff are so appreciative for him being so giving. We will also be participating in a 3 day walk for cancer, and I may just be crazy buy little man is coming with me!
Thanks!
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lala r
i teach him to put all things, toys, clothes he doesnt want anymore. we pile itt up and by the end of the year we donate it.
amramazon280 at yahoo dot com
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sherry @babypop
We go to a local clothes/toy closet to help donate and sort things for kids. My kids love the fact they are giving back to others. I cant wait till they get old enough 4 years(for my son) and we can go to central america to help with the needy.
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A Shorter Mama
We donate our toys and clothes to people who can use them. They help out the younger children at their school.
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A Shorter Mama
Twittered! Haha!
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Carrie
My kids and I take dinner to a home for women and children once a month for their community dinner night. We sit and eat together and talk. My kids (1 and 3 years old) like to help me carry the bags of food from the car inside, and they love getting to play and eat with the other children there.
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Carisa
My kids give clothing to other children in need.
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MEGHAN DAVIS
This is such a fantastic idea! I love this program. How amazing it would be for my 4 year old and if it lasts 5 years through destruction of little ones, even better… my soon to be 1 year old could enjoy it too down the road. We love your regular site and now this one is added to our bookmarks.
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Amy @ A Little Nosh
My son loves to donate his used clothes and toys “to kids who don’t have any.” He’s so sweet and generous about it, and it makes me so proud when he gives up his possessions so easily.
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sara
My children enjoy doing community service products and enjoy helping others. I think it creates a great deal of respect and shows our children that we cannot always have everything we want.
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sara
I subscribed via email.
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sara
I tweeted!
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{sue}
My kids like adopting another family for Christmas and helping me shop for clothes and toys for them. As they get older though, I am excited for them to have a more direct relationship with helping others by actually working with the people they are helping. I think it means so much more when there is personal contact- they see how much they are blessed and they see how much need there really is in the world.
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Lori s.
With my 5 year old son we talk a lot about how important it is to be kind to others. He demonstrates this by trying include those who seem left out and by being friendly to kids who he thinks others are not being nice to. Seems a good place to start.
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Lori s.
I subscribed via email. Yay!
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lilkunta
Congrats on the new blog APIA. Yourevery brave and focused to start it now with an under 1 year old.
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Cathy T.
Best wishes on the new blog, Jess! My son loved making sandwiches for the homeless last weekend at church. We were sending sandwiches and fruit, but he of course thought we should be sending chips, too! My older daughter jumps at the chance to help younger kids, most recently at Children’s Liturgy.
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adfasdf
I was recommended this website by my cousin. I’m not sure whether this post is written by him as no one else know such detailed about my difficulty. You’re wonderful! Thanks!
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Suzy Ivy
My kids are little, so I’m not sure they know how to voice why its important, but we are actively teaching them how to care about others and modeling ways in which we can care for others as a family.
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Anji
Awesome!
We set as many examples as we can so that our boys can see us helping others and will want to do the same - by helping the neighbor bring in groceries or providing food, clothes and toys to those in need, giving up our place in line for the mom with younger kids- I see our actions reflected in how they help out their friends and one another.
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amy @teachmama
Yay! LOVE that you’ve started this new site and cannot wait to read, Jess!!
Congrats!!!
Hmm, how to help my kids help others. . . we do a bunch of ‘little’ things for our neighbors, like shoveling the older folks’ snow or raking their leaves, leaving surprise flowers for the ladies. It’s not always easy, but we try to do a lot of modeling for them-in the way we talk to others and about others-though I know we could do more!
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amy @teachmama
I subscribed-because I SO don’t want to miss a thing!!
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amy @teachmama
I tweeted!
https://twitter.com/#!/teachmama/status/186144080688984066
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Rhonda Grisham
We donate our no longer played with toys to less fortunate kids. Also clothes.
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Rhonda Grisham
Tweeted
https://twitter.com/#!/trrg12/status/189680287112888320
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Amy Farrar
My daughter is involved with girl scouts and we get involved with a lot through different organizations whether it’s donating or helping out in person. We also support a child through World vision that’s her age and we send her letters and stuff. My daughter will also go through her toys and filter out the old and donate them.
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Laura Farr
We pick a family at Christmas to help and also during natural disasters we talk about people who have lost everything and then we donate to help them.
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Allison
We bought gifts for two families in a women’s shelter at Christmas - I was very pleasantly surprised to see how much fun my preschooler had choosing things for kids in need.
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Reginald
I love this
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