By Jennifer Friedberg
The Houston Chronicle
Copyright 2007 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
All Rights Reserved
HOUSTON — Shlenker School second-grade pupils got a lesson in caring last week when they gave away 125 bears to the Houston Fire Department to hand out to sick children who have to ride in ambulances.
Through a read-a-thon from Feb. 2 to March 5, the pupils read 345 books raising $3,097.75, which they used to create the bears at Build-A-Bear.
“It means a lot any time we respond to an emergency where a child is involved, it’s something special for us,” said Houston Fire Department Capt. Homero Ponce-Lopez. “It’s nice to have a bear like this we can hand out to a child to calm them down. They really love these bears. Whenever we get a bear out of the ambulance and give it to a child he immediately hugs the bear.”
This is the eighth year of the second-grade mitzvah project where students learn the Jewish tradition of doing good deeds and giving to others.
“They learn to be sympathetic. They think about how it feels for a child to be in an ambulance. They want to do something to help others,” said Shlenker Principal Barbara Goldstein. “They learn to do good deeds and help the community. It’s just a part of who we are at Shlenker.”
Before giving their bears away, the students learned first-hand on March 22 the happiness the bears can bring to a sick or injured child when Shlenker fifth-grader Lexi Auerbach fell on the playground and had to go to the hospital in an ambulance.
Goldstein said the first thing she did while waiting for the ambulance was go to the second-grade classroom to retrieve a bear for Auerbach to take with her.
When Auerbach returned to the school, 5600 North Braeswood Blvd., she spoke to the second graders about how much the bear helped her when she was alone during the ambulance ride.
While the students are happy to help, it is also hard for them to let go of the bears. A few of the students cried as they handed the bears to the firefighters one by one.
Teacher Alisa Davis has been at Shlenker since 1987 and has worked with her second-grade students on the bear project since it began eight years ago.
“It’s something that really gets deep in their hearts. They get really attached to these bears,” she said.
Davis said each student said a prayer for the child who would one day receive the bear before placing a heart inside each stuffed animal.
Teacher Lillian Jackson said giving the bears away is bittersweet for the students.
“They’re sad but excited at the same time,” she said. “They know they’re doing a good thing. It really makes them feel good to know we made somebody else feel good.”
“You just have to give them away. You have to be strong,” said 8-year-old Holden Markoff. He said he knows when his bears are given to a child on the way to the hospital, “it will make them feel better that there’s someone with them.”
“It’s good to give away stuff. We really didn’t need it,” said Hannah Golub, 8.
“It’s good to know we’re going to help somebody who really needs them,” said Austin Schultz, 7. “We really like these bears and we worked really hard. If you just make something you don’t have to keep it. You can give it away and help somebody who really needs it.”
Two students made bears dressed as firefighters, which were to be given to the firefighters injured on the job during the March 28 office building blaze.