A 12-year-old girl launches a campaign today to send socks to soldiers.

Alison Mansfield is a 12-year-old on a mission. Today through Dec. 15, this Fort Wayne, Ind. tween is collecting heavy wool socks to send to soldiers in Afghanistan. Her campaign, called "Socks for Soldiers," is not her first effort to help the troops—not by a long shot. Since 2005, she has collected letters, Girl Scout cookies and personal-hygiene items (from both individuals and corporations) that she ships to military personnel. You can send socks to: D. Mansfield, 7136 Pine Lake Road, Fort Wayne, IN 46814, where they will be packaged for shipment.

This story got us thinking: How can we encourage our own kids to give back to others? For inspiration, we went straight to the source: Alison's mom, Michele Mansfield. "We've always believed that as parents one of our biggest responsibilities is to train our child to give back to her community," says Michele, Mom of one. "We involved Alison in charity events at a very young age, and made sure she always had a role. When she was in first grade, she helped us with a community fundraiser for education, and her job was to ring the bell every time a donation was received." Michele says that her daughter, along with her two cousins, recently raised nearly $4,000 for polycystic kidney disease research. "I just think it's phenomenal," Michele beams. "Alison is a daily inspiration to me." Kudos to Michele for raising such an awesome daughter. You're an inspiration to us!