wants to know
what’s your small act?
Film Summary
Can one small act of kindness change someone else’s life? When Hilde Back sponsored an
impoverished Kenyan student, Chris, for roughly $15 per term, she never imagined the huge impact
her small contribution would make on his life. This donation enabled him not only to attend secondary
school and then university in Nairobi, but led, many years later, to his graduation from Harvard Law
School and, eventually, to his current role as an attorney for the United Nations in Geneva. Chris then
went on to set up a tiny scholarship program named after his long-remembered sponsor—the Hilde
Back Education Fund—in his own Kenyan village. The scholarship provides secondary school fees
for young students in Chris’s rural village, creating an even broader ripple effect from Hilde’s original
act of generosity.
How to Host a Screening and Compete in the Youth Service Challenge
This fall, A SMALL ACT partners with WaysToHelp.org to to encourage youth across the nation to
host screenings of the film in their communities as part of the Youth Service Challenge and then
talk about how you and your friends can make a difference in education – or any other issue that’s
important to you.
Visit www.asmallact.com and click on HOST A SCREENING to learn more about hosting the film at
your school and to purchase the special-edition school screening kit! The kit, which comes with the
rights to show the film publicly, costs $295, and can serve as a powerful launching point for your own
fundraising and awareness building efforts.
Can’t afford the $295 for a screening kit? We have a few
ideas for you:
• Ask a local church, synagogue, community center or
service organization to sponsor your film’s screening
by covering the cost of the kit. You can invite your
sponsor to talk more about his or her organization’s
work after your event!
• Raise money for the screening kit by pre-selling
admission tickets to your event. If everybody pays $5
and you sell 60 tickets in advance, you’ve covered
your costs! (You can keep extra proceeds for your
organization, or donate to a cause of your choice.)
• Submit a 250-word essay to the A SMALL ACT team
explaining how you will use the film to encourage
small acts in your own community. Be as specific and
creative as possible! We’ll pick 5 essay winners to
receive a free screening kit. Essay submissions should
be received by November 1, 2010 and should be sent
to [email protected].
www.asmallact.com