First Graders Learn Lessons in Philanthropy

Students in Hawken's first grade classes are no strangers to helping others.  Each week, 1R spends one hour knitting hats for Lake West Hospitals, passing the loom so each child gets a chance to contribute to every finished product, which to date numbers 15 hats.  For the holidays, the students made gift bags to donate to the troops.  And this week students in 1B made valentines for seniors at The Greens of Lyndhurst.

For the next couple of weeks, students in all three first grade classes are involved in an additional project: collecting donations for West Side Catholic Center, which, among other things, houses 32 women and children as they move from homelessness to stable housing and employment.  On Wednesday, February 9, the Center's Director of Development, Susan Ertle, came to share a powerful video of Clevelanders in need and to speak with the first graders about how students can help by donating seasonal items including blankets, gloves as well as basic necessities like toiletries, baby diapers and formula.  The students then created a large box to be placed in Dome Lobby to hold the donations, which the students themselves will then load into a van for delivery to the Center. 

"All it takes is a big heart," reads one colorful sign that hangs in the hallway outside the 1R classroom.  Clearly there is no shortage of big hearts in first grade.