HELP FOR HAITI

What can children do to reach out to children whose lives are impacted by a disaster? Many, many things, we are discovering. Our children surprise us with the level of their compassion and willingness to put forth effort to make a difference.

The children who attend the Children’s Chapel at Seattle Unity are reaching out in many ways. Their first project was to create beautiful note cards that they will be selling for donations to assist a congregant’s upcoming trip to Haiti.

The second project is to donate a small stuffed animal, chosen from their own collection at home, to be delivered to a child in Haiti.

How did this all come about? Gail Pyper, a congregant, is a nurse who has given her life to traveling with medical teams to disaster zones. Her next trip will be in April when a group of doctors and nurses will work to prevent infections. Our church is supporting her so the children and I looked for what we could do.

During the month of February, our theme was “God’s LOVE Bubbles Over!” We played, read and sang about how when we love ourselves, we can then love others who are then inspired to share their love. It’s a win-win for everyone. One activity planned was to make bubble prints. I wasn’t sure what to do with the finished prints but then the idea came to use them as art on note cards. 

This was a two-week project—one Sunday we made the prints. That was SOOO much fun! The second week we had a production line where the children assembled the cards, put a label on the back, added an envelope and put them each into a plastic sleeve.

Our plan was to sell them and donate the money to help Gail. When I talked to her about it, I asked if she’d be willing to come tell the children about her trip and what she’d be doing in Haiti. She agreed and last Sunday she came and gave an awesome presentation, complete with a hands-on lesson about how to treat a wound.

 Parents have given their permission for their children to assist at the table in the Narthex over several weeks to accept donations and share their beautiful bubble print cards.

We invited the children to choose a very small (no bigger than a Beanie Baby) stuffed animal to share with a Haitian child. Gail suggested that we take a picture of each child with his/her stuffed animal to include with the gift. We’ll do this over the next few weeks. She will then take pictures of the children who receive them to bring back to our children creating a circle of LOVE.