Kids send out smiles miles wide
Colored pictures will go to people in need of cheer
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY staff Upper Freehold Regional Elementary School second-grader Becky Cary, 7, colors in a picture for Color A Smile, a nonprofit organization that collects drawings from schoolchildren and distributes them to individuals in need across the country.

Second-graders at the Upper Freehold Regional Elementary School, Allentown, have learned that it's important to treat each other like geese.

On Nov. 21, second-grade teacher Patti Wahlgren continued her yearlong lesson about the importance of community service by explaining to her class that a goose flies easier when it's in another goose's tailwind. She also said that the animals share the responsibility of getting each other to where they need to go.

After listening to Wahlgren, second-grader Raymond Mills explained Wahlgren's point.

"We could help other people in the world like geese help each other," he said.

Not only has Raymond's class been doing just that since school began in September, but Wahlgren's lesson about the geese took place while the children were coloring pictures to send to people in need of cheer this holiday season.

CHRIS KELLY staff Cara DiGiuseppe, 7, a second grader at the Upper Freehold Regional Elementary School, colors a picture that will be sent to someone who needs a smile.

The students' latest endeavor in trying to make a difference in the world is through a partnership with Color A Smile, a nonprofit organization based in Morristown that spreads smiles throughout the nation with children's cheerful drawings.

Students in Wahlgren's class color at least three pictures apiece for Color A Smile, which then collects the artwork to distribute to nursing homes, Meals on Wheels programs and other individuals in need of cheer across the country.

As the students were busy coloring, Wahlgren instructed, "Remember when coloring to put lots of love into it.

"If you color with care," she told her class, "then they will feel it - like a hug from you - when they open it up."

Student Matt Stephan said the project is important because "if people are sad in a nursing home, they'll feel better when they get something to look at that makes them feel good."

Through a quick math problem, the children learned that the 22 of them would make 66 people happy this holiday season.

"Older people have done a lot of things for us," Matt said, "and this shows them that they are really important to us."

In discussing the significance of elders, Kevin Kertesz said, "They gave grace to the world."

Wahlgren said her class colors pictures for Color A Smile every season.

"It brings holiday cheer to folks in nursing homes, shut-ins and other people who are sick or who don't have families," she said.

While the Color A Smile project is a seasonal effort, Wahlgren's class focuses on community service all year long.

Since school started, the class has collected pet items to send to a local animal shelter, written letters and gathered items to send to U.S. troops stationed overseas, and helped with a project that garnered 100 books for students in need.

"Scholastic pledged to donate 100 books to 100 needy kids if our class read 100 books," Wahlgren said.

When asked what she learned from the reading project, Becky Cary said, "We learned to help other people, and we learned about the whole world from the books we read."

Many students in the class have taken away other important lessons from doing community service.

Kevin, who commented how elders "gave grace to the world," said it's important not to harm nature.

Sean Bennett said he learned not to litter.

Katie Smith said people should not be mean to one another.

Kinny DeAngelo learned the importance of supporting troops stationed overseas because "they have to fight and could get killed."

Tage Firkin said she learned the benefits of helping animals.

Through all the service-oriented projects the class has undertaken, Tommy Krosnowski said that the most important thing he and his fellow students have learned this year is "to help each other."

Wahlgren said she recognizes that any one of her students could be a world leader one day, which is why she wants to instill in all of them that they have the power to make the world a better place.