Published: March 18, 2008 11:44 am         

United Way teaching kids to care

Sometimes imitation is more than a form of flattery.

It can also be a vehicle for teaching kindness.

Cooke County United Way Executive Director, Angie Hare was touched by a story she read in a weekly supplement to the Sunday edition of the Register.

“The American Profile” featured a story about a Pennsylvania non-profit organization called “Karen’s Heroes.”

Karen’s Heroes is named for a dedicated school teacher who died of cancer. The project was founded as a way to carry on the good work Karen did for her students and others, Hare said.

With the story fresh in her mind, she said she thought a similar project for Cooke County students would be a good idea.

She said she contacted the magazine’s publisher who put her in touch with Karen’s husband.

“He was ecstatic,” Hare said when he found out students in Texas would be learning about the value of helping others through a project similar to Karen’s Heroes.

Hare said she searched for a name for the project. It obviously couldn’t be named for the late teacher, she said.

“Unfortunately, the name Karen doesn’t mean anything to our community so we named ours “Kids Care,” she said.

United Way set aside money from the Cooke County United Way Legacy Fund for the project.

“This special fund is not co-mingled with campaign funds and was established from private restricted gifts and bequests,” Hare said in a news release.

The United Way held a similar project at W.E. Chalmers Elementary School last year, she said.

This year, the agency plans to fund two Kids Care efforts.

The first was held at Callisburg Elementary School last week.

Cooke County United Way invited representatives from five Cooke County non-profit organizations to talk to Callisburg third graders about their agencies during two days of presentations at the school.

“The students had an opportunity for questions and answers. The students asked excellent questions and seemed quite interested,” Hare said.

Project Turning Point — a program aimed at keeping students in school and out of trouble and DASH — a feeding program for homebound elderly and disabled individuals, highlighted their agency’s functions using skits and student participation activities, she said.

Habitat for Humanity (a program that provides assistance for low-cost homes for those who might not qualify for a tradition mortgage) gave each class blank boards and asked them to use their design skills to decorate them.

“Habitat plans to use these boards in the building of future community homes,” Hare said.

“Each presentation made learning fun and interesting. The goal of the Kids Care program is to plant a seed in the minds of young students about the importance of community spirit and caring for our neighbors. The five agencies chosen to participate is only five of almost 50 local non-profits serving Cooke County,” she said.

Other agencies represented during the event include Cooke County Special Olympics and Camp Sweeney.

After the presentations, Hare said the students each got three tickets and were asked to choose which agencies should receive funding.

In all $1,500 in grants was distributed among the five agencies.

Habitat for Humanity was the overall winner with 75 votes and a $356 grant. Next was DASH (70 votes or $295.68), Camp Sweeney (46 votes or $295.68), Special Olympics (32 or $266.56), and Project Turning Point (17 votes or $236.16).

Hare said she is grateful for the support the agencies received from Callisburg Elementary and for assistance from Principal, Rusty Clark.

Last week’s project is not the only Kids Care event scheduled for this year.

“In April, a Kids Care program will be held for the third grade classes of Lindsay ISD. Cooke County Kids Care program is the second program of its kind in the nation,” she said.

For more information on the Cooke County United Way or any of its participating agencies the United Way offices may be reached at 665-1793.

Hare said last years’ Kids Care effort was a success. Organizers also made a discovery.

“We realized the students what the students were doing is working with a model United Way,” she said. “Schools are a great place to start learning about community service.”