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<< Previous   of   Next >> Kevin Nortz / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Mountlake Terrace Elementary School student Jacob Cunningham, 10, threads the edges of a bag that will be sold to buy goats for struggling Cambodian families. Cunningham's class has sold enough scarfs, cards and bags to buy four goats. Kevin Nortz / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Kimberly Yen, 10, works to finish a bag that will raise $5 towards the purchase of a goat for a Cambodian family.   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Tuesday, December 2, 2008 Kids' crafts have global effect Scarf and bag project will buy goats for needy Cambodians By Kaitlin Manry Herald Writer MOUNTLAKE TERRACE -- Kimberly Yen sits cross-legged on the carpet, hunched over a piece of blue felt. She pokes a needle through a hole in the fabric and pulls a piece of thick, pink yarn through. The needle gets stuck. A teacher helps her re-thread it. Determined, she starts over. Stitch by stitch, Kimberly builds a bag. Around her, other students in the special-education class at Mountlake Terrace Elementary School lay sprawled on the floor, sewing bags and scarves. They're sewing to raise money to buy goats for a family in Cambodia. They started with the goal of buying one. They've already sewn enough bags for four goats. For most of the students, the project is a way to help people and learn something in the process. For Kimberly, it's more personal. Last spring, the 10-year-old came to school in tears over the poverty and legacy of armed conflict her family in Cambodia was confronting. Special-education teacher Karly Kline suggested the class do something to help, and, this fall, they started sewing felt scarves and bags. "My grandma goes there every year to visit her sister and her sister has seven dogs over there to protect her from bad people," Kimberly said. "They don't have a lot of things over there. When they had a war one time they didn't have medicine and my grandma's son died over there, but if he was alive he would be my uncle." Kline, who teachers fourth through sixth grade, and Bridget Boling, who teaches special-education students in first through third grades, spent hours after school and over the summer brainstorming ideas. Their students have various disabilities, and they wanted to pick a project everyone could participate in. Sewing simple felt scarves and bags, with pre-poked holes and blunt tapestry needles, seemed like a good fit. They plan to send their earnings to Heifer International, a charity that will then buy goats for families in Cambodia. Each goat costs $120. "They're poor," explained 12-year-old Muhammad Shaharyar as he sewed a bag with a skull pattern. "They need a goat so they can make cheese and they can have a baby and they can have more food. We're just helping so they can survive." The students are selling their crafts to staff and students at Mountlake Terrace Elementary School. To spread the word, they gave presentations about Cambodia to other classes at the school. Many of the students working on the project stay in Kline's and Boling's classrooms all day and, at times, they seem isolated from their peers, Kline said. She hoped this project would bring them together with other students, but she was concerned about how kids in other classes would receive her students. "I figured it could either fly or die," she said. It soared. To her surprise, students at the school have been overwhelmingly supportive, offering to help sew and placing orders. Large bags sell for $7 each, small bags cost $5, scarves are $3 and boxes of handmade cards sell for $5. The project has helped the students in the special-­education classes become more prominent members of the school, principal Doug Johnson said "Because they're taking a leadership role in the school, they're being seen in that role," Johnson said. "That's really important. It highlights them and gives them an opportunity to shine as leaders in their school." Raising money for Cambodia makes Kimberly feel like she's doing something to help families like her own. "The project is fun to do," she said, brushing her fingers over a felt bag. "It's nice to do this for someone who doesn't have anything." Several minutes and a few stitches later, Kimberly pulls her needle through the final hole in her bag. She pauses for a few seconds to admire her work. Then she plops it on a growing stack of finished bags. Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com. Holiday bazaar Mountlake Terrace Elementary School students plan to sell scarves and bags at a holiday bazaar from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the school, 22002 52nd Ave. W. Everyone is welcome. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

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