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Students Give Time And Heart

Tribune photo by JAMIE PILARCZYK

The first graders’ Canvas Conversion project involves recycling plastic grocery bags in the hopes of exchanging them for canvas shopping bags. They have collected about 3,000 bags in their 10,000 bag goal.

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By JAMIE PILARCZYK

jpilarczyk@tampatrib.com

Published: April 1, 2009

NORTHEAST MACFARLANE - One hundred days. One hundred service opportunities.

"This 100 Days plan has nothing to do with money," said Aaliyah Mitchell, assistant principal at Macfarlane Park Elementary School. "It's about giving time and giving your heart."

It began with a holiday clothing drive for a boy from another school who was bullied because of his threadbare clothes. Mitchell spread the word at Macfarlane. Three boxes of donations later, plus inspiration from President Barack Obama's inauguration speech, and a ripple effect has moved through the school.

"We made Valentine cards for the homeless," said fourth-grader Julian Gonzalez. "We wanted them to feel good and that they're not forgotten."

The second grade is participating in Cans for Caring, collecting canned goods for hungry people, an effort students saw was lacking outside of the holiday season.

"We do it every day because the homeless people can't just eat once a year," said Sojeet Sharma, age 8. "They have to eat more than once a year. They have to eat every day."

With a little more than a month left - the 100 days run from Feb. 1 to May 11 - the list is extensive: recycling plastic grocery bags in return for sustainable canvas ones; delivering bagged lunches (400 peanut butter sandwiches were distributed March 4) with encouraging notes from the students to Metropolitan Ministries and the Salvation Army; writing and publishing picture books to be sent to Uganda via the Books of Hope project; recycling soda can tabs to raise money for families at the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay; making intergenerational buddies at the Barksdale Senior Center.

"Any child, any person can help," said Mitchell. "I have to say the beauty in all of it is to see the sincerity in everyone's heart."

The goals are big: 10,000 plastic grocery bags to recycle; "1 million pencils to Pakistan," said second-grader Shreya Thakkar; and from Sojett Sharma: "We're trying to get 1 million thousand cans."

The projects go beyond the classroom, Mitchell said. Overflowing from a box in the school's office, yellow paper notes describe acts of kindness from a student, a parent, even cafeteria manager Debrah Holland. She picks up discarded bags of good dog food from pet stores and delivers them to families in her neighborhood who can't afford it.

"The response has been so overwhelming," Mitchell said. "I'm finding people are more likely to help if there is no monetary obligation. However they can, they want to help."

Red heart cutouts inscribed with Save A Job dot the school's light switches, a reminder that by reducing the school's electricity costs, users can return a few more dollars to the district's tight budget. Second-grader Lily Martin decorated flower pots for Macfarlane's neighbors in appreciation of their patience dealing with the school's overflow parking and traffic.

Fourth-graders Nichole McClendon and Gracie Sanchez make friendship bracelets and cards for patients at St. Joseph's Hospital.

"I help other people because it's the right thing to do," said Sanchez, 10. "It just feels good to me."

Mitchell said she hopes Macfarlane will be the first school in the nation to answer Obama's call to service. The teachers all have brought in the high heel shoes they would wear should Oprah Winfrey want to feature them on her talk show.

"We are creating new routines," Mitchell said. "The picture is much bigger than just writing a check. Time is the most precious gift you can give. If someone is giving you their time, they are giving you the best of them. It's from the heart."

Reporter Jamie Pilarczyk can be reached at (813) 259-7661.

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