Led by art teacher Sheldon Lebowitz, nearly 40 students from Pinewood Elementary and their families spent the day at the Maryland State Fairgrounds to decorate a holiday tree with a special theme: Giving back to the critically ill kids and families at Casey Cares!
Lebowitz runs an after-school art service club with a focus on community service, and for the second year in a row, his students have created ornaments spotlighting a Casey Cares program. This year, they focused on our Hammy's Heart Program, creared in memory of one of our Casey Cares' children, Abraham (aka "Hammy"). Hammy's Heart provides grocery store gift cards to our neediest of families --- families who often are in financial bind especially with high medical care bills. These families often struggle to put food on the table.
The kids at Pinewood created handmade ornaments with a food theme and decorated heart-shaped clay ornaments. The tree will be on display at the Maryland State Fairgrounds Nov. 25-27 as part of Kennedy Krieger's annual Festival of Trees event. The event draws tens of thousands of people and features trees decorated by various organizations, businesses and indvidiuals.
In addition to the kids and families from Pinewood, Gina Truesdale, Hammy's mom and founder of Hammy's Heart, came out to decorate the tree as did Casey Cares volunteers Nancy Lund and Tammy Conner.
The day was filled with fun and surprises! After the kids finished decorating the tree, Lebowitz gathered the kids together and one of our Casey Cares children, Kevric, joined them. An electrical fire destroyed Kevric's home on Sept. 30. Both Kevric, and his mom, Latangela, are battling cancer, and losing their home has caused an added burden. Among their losses from the fire were their holiday decorations. An anonymous donor heard the story and decided to purchase Pinewood's tree for Kevric and his family so they could have a merrier holiday.
"There's no better lesson than teachinbg children that the joy you get from making something is great but you don't get to take it home now," Lebowitz said. "You need to give it away. And they know that joy. They've experienced that joy and it's a joy that's unparalled."
The Pinewood kids also collected grocery gift cards and donated them to the families at Casey Cares. To find out more about Hammy's Heart, click here http://caseycares.org/what-we-do/hammys-heart
WBAL-TV reporter Kerry Cavanaugh prepared this news report about the Pinewood kids and their involvement with Casey Cares and Festival of Trees. http://www.wbaltv.com/article/pinewood-elementary-school-students-help-family-in-need/8357484
