By Scott Morris
For the Herald
LYNNWOOD — Kids usually get in trouble if they draw on the floor at the mall. But not this time.
Nordstrom and the Alderwood Boys &Girls Club found a way to let 200 kids leave their permanent mark Jan. 25 on the floor of the new Nordstrom store scheduled to open in September at Alderwood Mall.
Each child painted a ceramic tile that will be incorporated into the floor of aisles between the children’s departments. The kids also each painted a backup tile in case the first one breaks later.
The event will benefit the Boys &Girls Club, which raised $6,000, thanks to $30 donations from each child’s family.
Mike Neumeister, the Alderwood club’s director, said the money will go into scholarships to help families who cannot afford to enroll their kids in the club’s programs.
Nordstrom employees instructed the kids to follow a bug theme, and they obliged.
“I’m making a – what’s this called, Mom? A centipede,” said Ellie Jones, 8, of Kirkland.
Jones had chosen a design the store provided as a guide.
“I liked the way it looked,” Jones said. “I like to do a lot of design work, and it has a lot of designs in it. I’m trying to use all the colors.”
Other kids eschewed the guides and trusted their free-hand skills.
Annika Ollestad, 9, of Bothell was putting the final touches on a spider and a butterfly. Her mother, Kristi Ollestad, said Annika had studied both at school.
“Without spiders, we’d be wiped out,” Annika said, daubing more yellow on a tile. “Because spiders eat the bugs that eat the crops that we eat.”
Kristi Ollestad said she found out about the event from mailings by Nordstrom, so she brought daughters Annika, Isabella, 7, and Sabrina, 3.
Meseret Debalke of Edmonds said she heard about the tile painting because her son, Markos Mezgebu, 7, plays on a basketball team at the Boys &Girls Club.
“He likes art,” Debalke said. “Whenever we get an opportunity for our son, if we can do it, we love to do it.”
Charles Bigger, an artist helping the kids, reminded them of the bigger picture.
“Your tiles are going to be there for years and years and years and years, until you’re all grown up and can bring your kids and show them,” Bigger said.
Scott Morris is a reporter at the Herald in Everett.
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