A student at Bugbee Elementary School proposed a project to help kids living at The Village’s residential treatment facility, and on Wednesday morning her entire class participated.

By Ronni Newton

Sydney Robinson thought it would be nice to do something for the kids who receive services from The Village for Families & Children, and on on Wednesday morning the 9-year-old’s entire fourth grade class at West Hartford’s Bugbee School participated in a service project she had initiated.

Sydney, who recently moved to West Hartford from New York, said she knew about The Village because her mother had previously volunteered for a backpack donation project that supported the organization. Sydney also wanted to do something help the children, and emailed The Village to find out what was needed.

Bugbee Principal Kelly Brouse said the fourth grade classes at Bugbee have been doing service projects throughout the year, but the idea for this one was completely arranged by Sydney, with some initial help from her mom. “She set it all up and reached out to her teacher, and asked if she could do it.”

Wednesday morning, Sydney and her fellow students in Kelly DiPietro’s class decorated cards for the children who live at Eagle House – the Village’s psychiatric residential treatment facility for children ages 7 to 13 who are transitioning from hospitalization.

The colorful notes included words of encouragement from the Bugbee students, which will help the children as they heal from trauma gain confidence and feel supported, said Laine Taylor, a child psychologist who is the medical director at The Village. Taylor said many of the kids don’t have homes to return to for the holidays, and “getting these words of encouragement and pictures are just so meaningful for them.”

Taylor said the idea for the cards – the Art Angels program – was created a few years ago. “Last year the messages were so impactful for the kids that while I was meeting with them in my visits they quoted some of the phrases that were sent to them as meaningful and encouraging.”

Sydney’s project is a feel-good holiday story, and it caught the attention of local TV stations who sent news crews to film the students creating the cards on Wednesday morning. FOX61’s Keith McGilvery taught the students a bit about how TV news is reported as he featured the class in a live segment, filmed a tease, and had them cheer “Happy Holidays!” to viewers.

Sydney said she didn’t do the project to get publicity, and she wouldn’t care if no one other than her, her mom, and The Village knew about it. But she was confident and composed as she shared the details of her project with reporters. “I’m fine with it, I’m totally okay with it, but had no idea. I mean it’s great,” she said of being interviewed for TV. “Now maybe other people will do it.”

Sydney said she didn’t come up with the idea of doing the service project to make herself look good. “If it made me look like a totally weird person I totally wouldn’t care. … I just want to do it,” she said.

She posed with McGilvery for a selfie, showing the card she had just finished decorating. “I believe you can be anything you want because you are amazing,” was the message she had written for a child at The Village.

Taylor said one of the cards a Bugbee student created Wednesday really struck her with its beautiful message. That message “was about how a bird sits on a branch and isn’t afraid of the branch breaking not because of the strength of the branch but because of their own strength,” she said. “Others say happy holidays, and those kind of words just help kids not feel so alone during this time.”

Brouse said one of the other service projects this year at Bugbee was making lanterns for the senior center. Another class made centerpieces for Thanksgiving for residents at Brookdale-Chatfield senior living facility in town. “I think they’re just all trying to realize that they can have an impact on other people’s lives,” Brouse said of the students.

Derek Slap, who represents West Hartford as the 5th District state senator, is the vice president of Advancement for The Village. He was also at Bugbee on Wednesday morning and said his department runs the “Art Angels” program.

“We offer for people in the community to fill out holiday cards for the few dozen children living at The Village,” he said. The cards are actually designed by children at The Village, and others color and decorate them and then answer the prompt “I believe you can …” with words of encouragement on the other side. Slap said the cards are used as part of the therapy the children receive.

Slap said most of the children who live at The Village have been exposed to multiple traumas in their lives, and are being discharged from the hospital after receiving treatment. It may not be safe for them to go home for a variety of reasons, or they may not have homes to return to. They receive therapy, education, and are fed nutritious meals during their stay, which he said averages four months.

After being discharged, Slap said, some do return to their homes while others may go to stay with other families, enter the foster care system, or be adopted.

DiPietro, who has been teaching at Bugbee for 23 years, said she loves this project. “We talk a lot about social and emotional learning and this just ties into such a nice thing. And we talk about gratitude all the time, and just to be able to do something for somebody else means so much.”

This is not the only service project DiPietro’s students are undertaking this year. She said that previously her class participated in a program called “Wish Upon a Star” to raise funds for holiday gifts for other students in their community, and throughout the year they also raise funds to support a local animal shelter.

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