Generous donors have been giving and caring for children in Indonesia and the Philippines for more than 50 years. Because of that generosity, significant strides have been made in the lives of the children. In the past two week an earthquake in Indonesia and a typhoon in the Philippines struck, potentially wiping out the significant development gains that these countries have made. Natural disasters create terrible situations that put already vulnerable children in grave danger.

MARIA HOWARDFitness Put on your running shoes, kids. Richmond is getting its first timed road race for the young set. The C&F Bank Short Pump Mile will be staged next Sunday starting at 7:45 a.m. behind Short Pump Town Center. The 1-mile event will begin near American Family Fitness and end near the mall’s food court. Children ages 6 through 18 will be divvied up into heats according to age. Awards will be given for the best times.

More than 1,300 children have been sickened by lead poisoning in central China, the second such case involving a large number of children this month, state media said Thursday.

Villagers in northern China clashed with police outside a lead smelter blamed in the poisoning of more than 600 children, reports said Monday.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. The campers here monitor how many steps they take and how many calories they ingest, aim to eat zero fat, watch no television and rise each morning around 6. They have seen their families once at most this summer, are limited in their phone and Internet use, and put through hours and hours of activity each day. But, for once, it feels so good to be normal.

Authorities are sorting out the details surrounding the tragic end of Andrew Joseph Johnson, who baked to death in a van several days ago after he was left alone in it by an employee of the Yellow Brick Road Day Care & Learning Center. The employee, Keishawn Whitfield, has been charged with felony child neglect. Investigators say Whitfield thought he had dropped the toddler off at the day-care center along with other children before returning home and going to sleep. It seems impossible in the abstract to do such a thing—how could anyone forget a child in a vehicle? But people do—even parents.

The seventh annual Children Fore Children golf tournament will be May 17 at The First Tee of Chesterfield, 6736 Hunting Creek Drive. The event combines a focus on youth participation with an opportunity for young golfers to help others in the community. More than 50 golfers ages 8 to 17 are expected to participate and help raise more than $20,000. The tournament will begin with a nine-hole scramble at noon and end with a picnic dinner and awards.

What better way for kids to wish mom a Happy Mother’s Day than by whipping up a batch of muffins or waffles and serving her breakfast in bed? And then wiping their sticky hands on the bedspread? OK, scratch the sticky-hands portion of the proceedings.

Among the 59 families in Hanover County’s Royal Glen neighborhood, 13 had kindergartners starting school this year. When one of those 13, Reese Klauer, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in January, the community galvanized around her. Neighbors built a wheelchair ramp for her house, because surgery to remove the tumor left her temporarily unable to walk.

Eyes wide with wonder, Justin Destry, 4, watched Uncle Curt the clown stretch the green rubber strip and wrap it round his fingers. And blow to create a spiraling balloon. With a twist or two, the clown attached the neon-bright spiral to the blue, bike-helmet-shaped cap he’d created from another balloon a minute earlier. “Got a hat!“ Justin exclaimed.

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  Education: The Powell Center for Economic Literacy offers teacher programs, student programs and lesson plans for students in metro Richmond and nationwide. For information, visit http://www.powellcenter.org or call (804) 741-2806.

Virginia is one of eight states getting a grant of up to $1 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to enroll more children in government-funded health insurance. “This is great news for Virginia’s families, especially during these difficult times when many are losing their health insurance, leaving their children uninsured,“ Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said yesterday.

The Children’s Hospital Foundation’s 15th annual bowl-a-thon and the second Battle of the Banks Bowl-a-thon raised nearly $10,000 for the foundation. The event, held Feb. 21 at Shrader Lane, attracted 25 teams of five bowlers. They represented area businesses and civic groups, including Direct Mail Solutions, American Family Fitness, Hill Phoenix and Fifth Baptist Church.

The U.S. Fund for UNICEF announced today the call for entries for its annual Pier 1 greeting card contest, in which a child’s winning design is turned into an official UNICEF greeting card, sold exclusively at Pier 1 Imports stores across the country during the 2009 holiday season. One hundred percent of the proceeds, as well as all UNICEF cards sold at Pier 1, go to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF to help in its mission to decrease the number of preventable childhood deaths from 25,000 each day to zero.

Children’s Hospital of Richmond is seeking participants for the third annual Fredericksburg Health and Safety Day from 10 a.m. to noon March 11, at the Fredericksburg Field House, 3411 Shannon Park Drive in Fredericksburg. Health and Safety Day is a free event geared toward pre-school and kindergarten-age children from public, private and home schools in Fredericksburg.