Keeping Up with the Dundees: Sharing Stars of Hope

6/10/20

The Dundees are not new to our blog or the Laurel Springs family. 15-year-old Gracie, a rising sophomore, and 20-year-old Lauren, an alumna and sophomore at Harvard University, have been a part of our school for almost three years. What else should you know about the Dundees? Gracie loves singing and playing instruments and plans to pursue a career in musical theatre, while Lauren is currently studying business and digital marketing. The Dundee sisters are from Los Angeles and have two dogs, two guinea pigs, and a huge passion for service and community.
In 2012, Gracie and Lauren founded Small Acts Big Change™ (SABC), a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring youth and their families to change the world and serve their community through acts of kindness and service. Each year, SABC organizes nine large campaigns to benefit people, animals, and the environment while also partnering with other 22 organizations on projects and outreach. This month, SABC partnered with Stars of Hope, which is an arts healing program dedicated to “empowering people of all ages to transform individuals and communities in need of hope,” as stated on the Stars of Hope website. 
This is the first post of a new monthly blog series, Keeping Up with the Dundees, that, well, keeps up with the Dundees and the latest going on in Gracie and Lauren’s lives. Read more about their organization’s involvement with Stars of Hope, and how you can get involved with this project below.
Covid Kindness ProjectPaper Star Template
While COVID-19 is still affecting the lives of many people, the Dundees were looking for opportunities to give back during the pandemic. On their partnership with Stars of Hope, SABC Director, Carolyn Dundee, who is also Gracie and Lauren’s mom, thought this could be a great way to get volunteers involved and support those dealing with coronavirus. “We feel [the Stars of Hope] project is a perfect opportunity to give back to people affected by COVID. Stars of Hope approached SABC to see if we would be interested in joining forces with them to help support first responders and families impacted by COVID. Our objective is to get our volunteers involved in decorating stars during the month of June to offer hope and support to people on the front lines of COVID.” The ultimate hope of this project is just that—to provide hope.
Students and other volunteers are decorating stars from a downloadable template that will be used to create banners. These banners will be put into communities to offer hope and gratitude to those affected by COVID-19. Banners will likely be placed in a hospital emergency room local to La Canada, California, the Dundees’ hometown, and similar places around the United States. 
Stars of Hope
Share Your Star
To show your support and share your star,

  1. Print the star template to full size on a 8.5” x 11” piece of paper.
  2. Decorate your star with messages of hope, healing, or thanks in any way you choose using crayons, colored pencils, paints, markers, or glitter. Feel free to get creative!
  3. Email a picture of you holding your decorated star(s) or a scan of the star itself to smallactsbigchange@yahoo.com.

 
What’s Next for the Dundees?
Stay tuned for next month’s edition of Keeping Up with the Dundees where we will explore how a supplies drive will help orphaned wildlife in partnership with organizations across California. Also, keep abreast of all things Small Acts Big Change on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.