Children From All Over The World Are "Banding Together" With Rainbow Loom To Bring Happiness To Others In India

We have been "Banding Together" with other children, teachers, and school communities around the world to bring happiness to other children in India.  

What started as a research project about Rainbow Loom has turned into the organization called "Banding Together", which is bringing all of us together to create bracelets for our new friends in an orphanage in Mangalore, India.  

These acts of kindness are going to bring so much love, friendship, and happiness to all of us.  

Over the last month, it has been been wonderful receiving bracelets, photographs, letters, and tweets from others around the world.  

Here is just a little glimpse into how a few of the schools have been "Banding Together"....

My sister Heather Fox and her students at Amana Elementary Library in Iowa have made hundreds of bracelets during the last week.  

It means so much to me to have Heather and her students be part of this project.....

especially with my niece Riley (in the middle), nephews, and friends involved too.  

My friend Elissa Malespina and the SOMS students in New Jersey sent us all of these and are making even more for Banding Together.  I have loved the stories of how excited they are.  

 Our friends at Shawna Ford's school in Texas and

 Melvina Kurashige's school in Hawaii have sent beautiful ones too.  

The little notes being included in the packages are so sweet and will mean a lot to the children in India. 

Our very own 6th graders at Van Meter had a Rainbow Loom Fundraiser for Sandy Hook.  They gave over 100 that were leftover to our Banding Together project.

And I loved receiving a package from my friend Marjan Gharajedaghi collected dozens of them from her own children's school to send to India.  

We love following the the #BandingTogether hashtag on Twitter and all of the messages from other librarians, teachers, and schools.

The one above is from my friend Kim Keith....We can't wait for yours to arrive too, Kim.

And lots of pictures from our friends at their homes and school.  Rachel Langenhorst from Iowa sent this one of her daughter Ella looming away....along with the students at their school, Rock Valley.

One part of the project we are really enjoying is creating charms with Tinkercad and our MakerBot 3D printers along with Andy Plemmons students at Barrow Elementary in Athens, Georgia.

My son Hagan and his friends love this part!  It has been fun to see all of the photographs and news about the different designs they have been creating and attaching to bracelets.  

When there are spare moments in the library and after school, this is a common scene.  A few of our friends were making bracelets during the Technical Difficulties Library Club after school last week.

 Hagan and his friends Carter and Luke spoke to our school board about the project last week.  The third graders spoke to a reporter from a newspaper in India on Friday to share the story.

Luke even found a couple different looms to produce on the Makerbot.  Our students are going to collect bands and make looms to send along to India with all of the bracelets.

As you can see, we are off to a terrific start in making a difference in the lives of these young people and within the world.

This is just the start.  There will be more and more children that will need us and we will band together again to bring happiness to them.

 You can follow all of us for this journey on the Banding Together Facebook page and

on the Banding Together Tumblr.  You can also follow the hashtag #BandingTogether on Twitter that we all have been using....And please do too when sharing your news about Banding Together.

Please send your bracelets to:  Shannon McClintock Miller, Van Meter School 520 1st Ave. Van Meter, Iowa 50261

Thank you again friends for "Banding Together" with all of us.  We hope that others join us too.

You will find all of the information that you need on the Banding Together Smore.