It started when I was doing a Martin Luther King play in January 2006. I learned that there is slavery in some countries. It made me feel mad because I have all these things and all these fun things to do while they have to just work all the time. I decided to turn my angry energy into helping people energy. I asked my mom to read me a list of places where there is slavery and people being treated badly and when she said “Sudan” I said “Hey, I’ve heard of Sudan. I just did Sudan on the Africa map at school.” At first I and my friends wanted to fly there to fix their lives but my mom wouldn’t let us. Then my friends said “ok, then our moms should fly there.” That’s when I knew my friends weren’t serious about it. So I told my teachers and some family about it and they gave me money. We found a charity called Kids for Kids on the web. They buy goats so that the kids can have milk and they can trade it for clothes, food, sheep, camels, and medicine. They give goats because money doesn't breed but goats do and make more goats. I decided I didn’t like to just ask people for money to help kids in Sudan because it was too embarrassing so I wanted to sell something to get the money instead. Awhile before that, my mom went to Soft Star Shoes to buy some moccasins for my little brother Jack, and I got to have a tour and they gave me some leather scraps and they told me I had to do something with them, so I did. Deann at the shop had told me that cats like to play with strips of the fur. But I wanted to use the leather too so I thought I could make a stuffed sphere part with a face to attach to the fur. And then we couldn’t make a sphere because it was too hard so instead we just put stuffing between two circle shapes so it was kind of flat. That’s when I invented the Playful Pancakes and made one for my grandparents’ cat Nacho for Christmas. I got the idea that I could make more Playful Pancakes and sell them and give the money to Kids for Kids. So I went to Soft Star Shoes and asked them if I could come get more scraps to make more cat toys. They said yes and also said they would sell them on their website. They give me the leather and sheepskin scraps whenever I need more. I sold the first one in March 2006. That’s when Soft Star Shoes put up the website to sell them. I was 7 and in 1st grade.