Maple Corner Montessori Students Sell Artwork to Thank Mercy Staff

Students from Maple Corner Montessori School had a drive-by art sale during the week of Labor Day to raise money to thank all of the employees at Mercy Hospital with a burrito and taco bar from Tino’s Tacos on Thursday. Janelle Newton, who is a parent at the school, helped coordinate the art show where parents could buy artwork made by students during drop-off and pick-up. The school raised over $1,000. “Obviously the pandemic has hit the community hard in the last couple months,” Newton said. “Service projects are a big part of the culture at the montessori school. The school community wanted to show appreciation for the hospital workers who have been in the trenches and we wanted to teach our kids that they can help even though they are young. When things come from kids, it’s extra heartwarming.” Newton said the school would typically do a bake sale, but that brings a new set of challenges in the pandemic era. “All the kids love making art,” Newton said. “It’s 99 percent sincere and 1 percent tongue in cheek of parents thinking, ‘oh my gosh, what do I do with all my kid’s art?’” All of the artwork was made by students and they helped a lot with promoting the sale. “Usually it was kids picking out art their friends made or they made,” Newton said. The Parent Teacher Organization wanted to make sure Mercy staff felt all of the love the students had to give, so Cree Adamson, another parent, filmed as many students as wanted to say “thank you” and compiled it into a video to share with the community. “Part of Janelle’s goal was to uplift spirits and she wanted to involve the kids in a video,” Adamson said. “There are varying levels of understanding, so there is sweet and heartfelt to silly three-year-olds. We feel like kids bring hope, so that’s the goal.”