Last week, SMS 8th graders Abigail, Jackson, Colton, Samantha, & Brady delivered smiles and the gift of play to 31 pediatric cancer patients at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (RPCCC). This group of dedicated 8th graders chose to create "Jared Boxes" for pediatric patients as their service project for the year.
Service projects are a part of 8th grade religion class at SMS. Mrs. Julie Leong has been working with the 8th graders on developing the projects, but once a project is chosen it is entirely student led. Students are required to identify a need, make all necessary contacts, clear dates with the school, determine participants, manage volunteers, and tap into many other skills needed for successful project management. Some projects they have developed are school-wide, while others involve just the 8th grade or another class or small group. Mrs. Leong noted,
"Involvement in community service allows the students to take their lessons beyond the classroom and learn how their actions can make the world a better place."
The Jared Box Project was started in 2001 by the children of Our Lady of Victory School in State College, Pennsylvania, to honor their classmate and friend, Jared. He was a brave little boy who battled cancer with courage and faith. Since then, more than 1,000,000 Jared Boxes have been delivered to over 500 hospitals across the United States. Boxes filled with the “gift of play” are given to young patients in emergency rooms, hospital rooms, surgical centers and clinics.
The 8th graders began their project by asking the entire school to help out and get involved so they could reach as many patients as possible through their efforts. They assigned each grade level with certain items to bring in, such as coloring supplies, stickers, lip balm, fun socks, small stuffed animals, silly putty, matchbox cars, craft kits, travel puzzles, writing journals, and clear plastic bins to hold the items.
They then settled into the task of organizing the items into the bins based on age and gender, so that each box would contain small gifts, toys, games, and fun activities specifically selected to put a smile on the face of a young girl or boy undergoing treatment at RPCCC.
Once the boxes were packed, our 8th graders wrote a personal note to place in each one, printed labels for the lids & sides, included a printed activity sheet, and then had some fun decorating the boxes with stickers. The last step in the project was to deliver the boxes to RPCCC. Our students helped load the vehicles to deliver them downtown, and brought the boxes into the Katherine, Anne and Donna Gioia Pediatric Hematology Oncology Outpatient Center, RPCCC's state-of-the-art facility providing infusion services and patient exam areas in a kid-friendly center.
Our students had this to say about their involvement in the project,
"Working on service projects this year has helped us become better disciples. It's hard to see these kids suffer from such a horrible illness so young, so we are hopeful we can cheer them up during such a hard time by sending them love through these Jared Boxes."
Hopefully the Jared Boxes do bring some joy and love to the pediatric patients who use them, as the project has certainly brought the 8th grade students a deeper appreciation and understanding of the meaning and importance of service to others!
"Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” 1 John 3:18