See my photo at www.shine.yahoo.com under redvioletskydancer
My opinion is this:
America stop wasting free press and worrying about a Homeless American Girl Doll, use the free press and AMERICA WORRY ABOUT AMERICA'S HOMELESS GIRLS!

Two Homeless Babies in The United States of America
Photo by: www.womensave.org
I was reading recently about this big Hoorah about American Girl coming out with the Homeless American Girl and the big uproar it was creating. In 2007 I nominated my daughter, Anna, for the Real Girl of the Year contest by American Girl. I did so because she is awesome. She inspires in our community and is warm loving and generous.

I also did because Anna went without for so long to help Homeless Kids in our community, in our United States. American Girl wrote back and said Anna inspired them, and we never heard anything more. Then 2 years pass and a big deal is made over there new Homeless Girl. I hope my nomination of her made them think and consider putting this out. I don't want to scare kids by any means but people need to know about homelessness and it got the conversation started.

What did Anna do, at 8 years old to end homelessness? She gave her bedroom up for half a year while 2 young women in their 20's slept there, a 3 year old and 8 month old. She bunked with me and a baby in my room. She skipped out on sports and activities she deserved so we would have enough money to pay for an ER visit for a baby, milk and diapers. She got up at 2 am and helped feed them. She took a bath with them, you name it.

Were they our family? Yes and no. We did not know them from anyone on the street. The problem is they were on the street. They were on the street with no money, no shoes, no food, no diapers, no transportation, falling apart. They came and lived with us. We tried to get them assistance but they were turned down everywhere we applied. The mother was illiterate and FIA would disqualify her for non-cooperation when she frequently didn't understand what they were asking her to do. Every social service agency turned her away because if they helped with rent this month she would be out the next with no income. Homelessness is prevalent in our society with 1/50 kids (source:USA today) currently in a homeless situation. Our society needs to step in and step up and take care of our kids, even if they are not our biological kids. The shelters in our wealthy community have a 4-6 month waiting list, in the meantime it is inexcusable as a community to have any children suffer! We need to look at what we can do everyday to help end homelessness, especially of children in the United States.

Who cares about a homeless doll America! Care about our real homeless American Girls. The photo is of 2 of the 3 homeless kids that lived with us on our $640/month income.


Related: suffering, love, homelessness, homeless american girls, homeless american girl doll, homeless american boys, financing our kids, community caring, child poverty, child care

Seriously this sickens me. As a divorced father, always scrimping to provide from a rebellious teen daughter, I find it a travesty that this kind of back story would be whipped up for public consumption.

If they really had to guts to make a statement that needs to be made - how about a family loosing a parent in an unnecessary war? That type of story happens every day in America, and should be told far more often than it is.

Certainly would be better than vilifying fathers more than they are in this broken family culture.

Selling stuff for profit on the backs of folks who are really going through this stuff makes me nervous. Hope they donate profits to the appropriate helpers. This kind of commerce is very sneaky to my mind.

While it would be great if Mattel gave money to the homeless shelters (why aren't they doing a percentage of each sale?), I do think that just bringing the subject to light is admirable, especially doing so in a way that normalizes homelessness.

So many young people are afraid of the homeless, think they are "weird" or choose to be homeless, or else look down on them for being so. There is a huge stigma attached to living on the street, which even I myself struggle with.

When I was 10, my family had a house fire. It ravaged our home. Luckily, my parents had good insurance and steady jobs and we were able to afford another place to live while we built a new house on our property. However, I will never forget what it was like to have not so much as a toothbrush as a possession. It didn't last long for me and we had an outpouring of support from our friends, family, and church community, as well as our small town in general.

One of the first things that I remember after that was receiving Samantha, an American Girl Doll. She was a combined gift purchased with money raised by my fourth grade classmates. So, this announcement feels eerily full-circle for me. If the company were to support a country-wide media campaign on homelessness or donations of the dolls to homeless girls (children in this country make up the majority of the homeless population - accoding to CNN, 1 in 50 children is homeless) or benefitted homeless shelters, I would be the first in line to buy one.

Wow. This is a bold move by Mattel on many levels, I think. First off, I *do* think it would be a great thing for them to donate the lion's share of the proceeds from this doll to homeless charities.

And while I know the knee-jerk reaction is to only look at the surface and think that this is about exploitation, I have to agree with Beth & Shannon. American Girl dolls each come with a wonderfully-told story about girls from every facet of the American experience. They're as much about learning about our history and culture, as well as promoting understanding of those who might be different, as they are about playing. My feeling is that if a young girl is exposed to a story like the one that accompanies this doll and, in some small way, is able to learn some compassion, then it's a great thing. The more people who are educated about issues like homelessness, whether they're young or old, the better.

Nicely done, Mattel.

Adam, my first reaction was also WTH? But then in talking a step back (and Shannon Whitley reminding me on Twitter), American Girl Dolls always come with a story (hardship, cultural, societal, political, etc.) that is meant to be inspirational for girls. Why should this story be any different?

Homelessness is, in fact, part of America's history and I think that's what people are really reacting to...not the doll. Or perhaps they are reacting to a perceived notion that Mattel is capitializing on homelessness in this country and therefore they should give away the proceeds. That logic makes no sense because otherwise they'd have to give a portion of all sales back to some charity or group somewhere, because their stories all touch on something that could be perceived as somewhat senstitive.

I applaud Mattel for bringing the subject to light and trying to education children to be sensitive, open-minded and perhaps even friendly next time they bump into another child that is/was in this situation.

Beth Harte
Community Manager, MarketingProfs
@bethharte

Rescue dolls: I used to have a special fondness for them. Even if they didn't have a formal story - in my imagination I rescued them from shelters or, in reality, from trash. I washed them, gave them such nice special dresses and fixed their hair. I loved these dolls. I know I would have loved that doll.

Umm... WTF? This is just twisted.

I don't usually say this but WTF?

This country is headed in the wrong direction if this is passed off as something that is done in the name of commerce. While I understand the need to bring attention to the plight of homeless children this is not the way to do it.

That is just awful. Mattel should donate $75 of the $95 to charity or they are soulless zombies.

Wow...I can't believe this. I would have added the fact that they are making money from men doing something wrong. This is really bad. I know that this happens, but is it really what we want to support?

And speaking of support, yes, they should be at least giving a good portion of the money to charities.