Children living in poverty suffer both privately and publicly. When a child has to wear the same shirt every day to school, when they cannot see the blackboard because they cannot afford glasses, when they cannot join their local Cub Scout pack because the registration fees are too high, these are public humiliations that can have a serious impact on their self esteem. Alice’s Kids is designed to make those children feel more normal amongst their peers. As the “petty cash drawer” for local non profits, we provide small acts of kindness working with an extensive referral network of teachers, county social workers, and counselors. When they identify a child with a particular need, they email us and generally we issue a purchase order to Target to the referrer. They get the order to the family so they can purchase that winter jacket or the pair of soccer shoes needed to try out for the team. For the child, this is an anonymous process. He or she does not know they are receiving charity. The parent can simply announce that they are going to Target to get the item! If a child needs something not available at Target (e.g., a senior ring, football registration fees) we simply write a check to the appropriate entity. Over the last year, we provided direct assistance to approximately 150 children in the D.C. metro area, most of those cases being in Fairfax County. But word of our work is spreading!