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North Elementary service project benefits Beatitude House
By TIM CLEVELAND
As part of celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday, third-grade students at North Elementary learned an important lesson in kindness as they participated in a service project titled Birthday Boxes, which benefited the boys and girls of Beatitude House.
From Feb. 24 until Dr. Seuss’ birthday on March 10, the 34 students collected an assortment of items for a child to celebrate a birthday, such as cake mix, frosting, candles, plates, napkins and balloons. The items [for one child to celebrate their birthday] were put in a shoebox and then wrapped with paper for a child to open.
North teachers Tracy Kaschak and Charlene Hay spearheaded the project.
Student Aidan Wire said he learned some valuable lessons participating in the project.
“That making other people feel good will make you feel good,” he said.
Kaschak said the project helped the students remember things they would normally take for granted.
“The students learned the importance of doing random acts of kindness,” she said. “So often people take the little things for granted and it was so nice to be able to spread the joy of a traditional birthday celebration to those that are less fortunate.”
Kaschak said the idea for the project originated with her own family.
“I have done this project before,” she said. “It started with my own two children, about five years ago, making a birthday box and delivering it to the Beatitude House. I then decided to bring this into North Elementary as a service project for the third and fourth grades. This year it only involved the third grade.”