Students step up to help foster children

LYNNWOOD — Students at Cedar Park Christian School spent Valentine’s Day making cards and decorating boxes of shoes for foster children.

They pasted little paper hearts and tied curly ribbons to the 31 boxes of shoes purchased with more than $500 the students raised by taking donations Feb. 4 at a campus movie night.

Cindy Whiteman’s second-graders joined Cristina Nelson’s third-grade class to donate shoes to the foster children of Olive Crest, a foster care ministry of the Cedar Park Assembly of God Church at 16300 112th Ave. NE in Bothell.

“They are so proud of themselves and so excited that they could do something that important for another person,” said Whiteman, 57, of Edmonds.

The classes picked the movie “Madagascar,” and advertised the event by decorating the school with old shoes, distributing heart-shaped suckers and making signs that read, “Come to movie night, support foster children.”

Donations were taken at the door, and the class served free popcorn and ice cream sundaes.

A total of $523 was raised, enough for room parent Kelly Garth Green, 38, of Edmonds, to buy 31 pairs of shoes, such as Converse, Vans, Adidas and Reebok.

There were 31 kids in the second- and third-grade classes so each got their own box to decorate and give to a foster kid.

At the Valentine’s Day party, Connie Baldwin, director of Olive Crest, brought poster-size pictures of foster children and educated the students about what families can do for foster kids.

“She gave the children a better picture of the hard situations these kids go through,” Whiteman said.

“It’s a very special group of children; they have really big hearts,” said Mark Garth Green, room parent. “To see them shining by being able to donate and realize how helpful this is to people their own age, they get that.”

Cedar Park Foster Care Ministries recruits Christian families to take in foster children and support Christian foster families.

Ashley Stewart: 425-339-3453; astewart@heraldnet.com.