Kids Facts

Diane Hendricks handcrafted a Raggedy Ann doll and asked her husband Bill - a Marine Corps Reserve major in Los Angeles - to find an organization that could give it to a child in need. No such organization existed. So he started one. By Christmas, his Marine unit had collected 5,000 toys. Toys for Tots has since delivered over 708 million toys to 314 million children.

A Junior Ranger badge cannot be bought. Kids have to earn it. They finish an activity book about the park. Then a ranger swears them in on the spot. Right hand up, they take the oath. About 450,000 kids do this every year. Yosemite alone once swore in 22,600 in a single year. Every one of them still walks out wearing a real badge.

Rodney Smith Jr. was driving home in Huntsville, Alabama, when he pulled over to help an elderly stranger struggling to mow his lawn. That night he decided to mow free lawns for seniors, veterans and single moms. Then he asked kids to do the same: 50 free lawns each. More than 6,000 kids across the country have signed up. Those who finish all 50 get a new mower, trimmer and blower.

Harrison Ford has personally flown more than 300 kids on their first airplane ride, and at one Young Eagles Day he flew 43 kids in his de Havilland Beaver. He chaired the Young Eagles program from 2004 to 2009, and in 2016 he flew a 16-year-old at Oshkosh as Young Eagle number 2,000,000. Volunteer pilots still take any kid aged 8 to 17 up for free, and the count has passed 2.5 million.