Children help peers and promote peace
Thursday, Sep. 1, 2005
E-Mail This Article  Click here to enlarge this photo Christopher Anderson⁄The Gazette
During a Cheverly Kids Care Club meeting Aug. 24, Sally Davies, left, of Berwyn Heights, helps Kirsten Wallace, 8, of Cheverly, and Davies’ 8-year-old son, Matthias Davis Early, decorate cloth squares to beincorporated into the Cloth of Many Colors that will be displayed at the Capitol in the District this month.
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Alex slowly drew her needle and thread through the red heart-shaped cloth she was sewing to the white foot-long square. She planned to sew the letters L, O, V and E above it.
The foot-long square and about three dozen others made by members of the Cheverly Kids Care Club, the Cheverly Parents Resource Center and some home-schooled students Aug. 24, will be used in the Cloth of Many Colors, to be displayed at the Capitol in the District later this month.
A Cheverly resident, Alex didn’t know her work might be seen by thousands of visitors and public officials.
‘‘Cool,” she said, her eyes widening.
The activity was one of two to kick off the school year, said Tammie Nelson-Stringer, one of the club founders and coordinators.
After Cheverly peace activist Joyce Lang approached the children about contributing to the quilt, they readily agreed because it fits with their goals of showing their service projects can be fun, Nelson-Stringer said.
On previous occasions, children helped clean the Anacostia River, entertained seniors at Prince George’s Hospital Center and assisted with animals at the Prince George’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said Nelson-Stringer and Lisa Lincoln, another organizer.
Members in the nearly 2-year-old club range in age from 15 months to 2 years, they said.
Children can help in as many projects as they like, but there is little structure because they get that in so many other aspects of their lives, Nelson-Stringer said.
In creating the squares, the children could come up with their own design, but it had to include a red button, so they would know which section was theirs, Lincoln said.
‘‘The red button symbolizes we’re part of the same community, but the buttons are not all the same because we’re not all the same,” Nelson-Stringer said.
Members also celebrated the success of their summer readathon. Sixteen children raised more than $800 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a charity they selected, Lincoln said.
‘‘It’s one of the things we try to do as much as it makes sense for the children,” she said of involving them in decisions.
‘‘It allows them to be involved as much as possible.”
Ryan Reczek, a St. Jude’s event marketing representative, told the children their contribution would help sick children whose parents may not be able to afford treatment otherwise.
After the event, he said he was impressed by their generosity.
Typically, someone will donate $25, but it costs $1 million a day to keep the Memphis, Tennessee-based hospital running, he said.
‘‘When kids do something like this and kids are helping other kids, it makes all the difference to us,” Reczek said.
Cheverly resident Matthew Williams, 11, said the decision to participate was easy. He read six books. ‘‘It seems like I should. I would be reading anyway, so it would be good to get money for it and good to help St. Jude,” he said.
E-mail Jennifer Donatelli at jdonatelli@gazette.net.
