More photos from Bethware Fourth-graders visit to Life Enrichment Center in Kings Mountain

Fourth-grade students in Crissie Johnsonbaugh’s class from Bethware Elementary held a bake sale to raise money to buy a birdbath and bird feeders for the Life Enrichment Center in Kings Mountain. The participants enjoy watching, filling the bird feeders and identifying the birds.

The students brought and set up the bird feeders

and birdbath for the participants at the

Life Enrichment Center.

Gift adds beauty and song -- Bethware fourth-graders buy birdbath and feeders for Life Enrichment Center

The healing garden at the Neisler Life Enrichment Center, 222 Kings Mountain Blvd., Kings Mountain, has a path that winds through sedges, herbs and fruit trees. It begins and ends in a veranda furnished with rocking chairs, ceiling fans and an outdoor fireplace.

But something was missing — a birdbath and bird feeders.

“We had a birdbath on our wish list for many months and wondered if we would ever get one donated,” Debbie Vaughan, Community Outreach Coordinator, explained in an e-mail.

The center’s wish was granted in March by a group of fourth-graders from Bethware Elementary — Crissie Johnsonbaugh’s “Johnsonbaugh Jaguars.” Johnsonbaugh said her students had been begging her to do a service project.

“We brainstormed different projects, talked to the principal (the students went and talked to her, and then I went later), and decided on buying something for the Life Enrichment Center in Kings Mountain,” Johnsonbaugh wrote in a e-mail.

The students, with Principal Valerie Boyd’s approval, planned, set up and had a bake sale during their Christmas program at school. Faculty and parents donated baked goods. The students raised more than $200 at the bake sale.

“Many of the participants’ own grandchildren are grown now, so they love and have adopted our new young heroes, the Johnsonbaugh Jaguars,” Vaughan said. “I think what means the most is knowing that these young people care about them. It has taken a lot of work from students, parents and teachers to bake, sell and purchase these items and fill our need.”

Along with the birdbath, the students donated a hook, two bird feeders and bird seed. They brought the items to the Life Enrichment Center and visited with the residents.

“I believe the project will have a lasting effect on the students,” Johnsonbaugh said. “The students were proud of helping push some of the residents around in their wheelchairs, and they were just excited in general.”

Vaughan said the act of kindness has meant “the world” to the center’s participants.

“It is wonderful to know that these young people care enough about us to make a difference in both our lives and our healing garden with the birdbath and bird feeders,” she said. “Many of our participants enjoy being outside in the garden area during their day at Life Enrichment Center. They especially enjoy watching, filling the bird feeders and identifying the birds.”

Johnsonbaugh said her students wanted to do something for others, because they have relatives who are in retirement homes or relatives who are serving in the armed forces.

“I believe they have grown up in a time and around family that believes helping others is how we will survive,” she said.

Gloria Lowe Harper wants to come home to finish cancer fight

Gloria Lowe Harper is a giving and caring person, who has worked for many years mentoring children in the Communities in Schools programs at Crest Middle and Township Three Elementary.

When she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer, on April 25, 2007, it was time for her family and friends to rally around her, offering support financially and through their prayers and encouragement.

After doctors here said they could do no more to help her, her family and friends raised the money to send her to the number one Multiple Myeloma center in America, the University of Arkansas for Medical Science Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy.

She traveled to Arkansas a month ago and family members have taken turns staying with her there. But now, doctors at the center say the treatments are not working and her family wants to bring her back home.

Gloria’s sister, Bea Webber, said they will need $7,000 to fly Gloria home. The family has contacted Hospice Cleveland County and is hoping Gloria will be able to stay at Wendover.

Donations to help bring Gloria home may be sent to Gloria’s church, St. Peter Baptist in Grover.

The St. Peter Ministries for Gloria Harper Fund was created to help lesson the impact on the family, making funds available for not only for medical treatment but for everyday expenses such as rent, utilities, groceries, transportation, travel and lodging.Donations are tax-deductible. Checks should be made payable to the Gloria Harper Fund and send to St. Peter Ministries, P.O. Box 2706, Shelby, NC 28151-2706.

A good turn - Shelby Gymnastics raising money for children in Tanzania

Kaitlin Houlditch-Fair has been turning cartwheels about as long as she’s been walking. The daughter of Shelby City Park Gymnastics Instructor Dot Houlditch, Kaitlin grew up in the gymnastics program and also helped her mother when she got older.

“I owe all my gymnastics skills and life skills to her; she is the most amazing woman I’ve ever met,” Kaitlin writes about her mother. “And yes, it is fair to say that I have been doing cartwheels from a very young age. My mom was even still teaching when she was pregnant with me. It’s embedded in my bones!”

Kaitlin, now a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is studying dramatic art and has received a Burch Fellowship to travel to Moshi, Tanzania, to work as an assistant acrobatics instructor at the TunaHAKI Centre for Street Children.

TunaHAKI is swahili for “we have the right.”

Teaching gymnastics around the world

“I heard about the Centre through a friend of mine here at UNC. Last semester I studied abroad in London and started a gymnastics program at a nursery school down the street from where I lived,” Kaitlin said. “I went once a week and taught 3 and 4 year olds and I absolutely loved it.”

Out of that experience, she wanted to do more.

“I just talked to so many people that had travelled, and when I talked to my friend Marie who studied abroad in Tanzania, I knew this was the right place to go,” she said. “I e-mailed the director of TunaHAKI, David Ryatula, and he invited me to come on over, so I went about getting funding for it.”

She applied and was chosen for The Burch Fellows Program. The program was established in 1993 by a gift from UNC-CH alumnus Lucius E. Burch III. It grants up to $6,000 for a student to pursue a passionate interest.

Giving back to the children

With the gift that Kaitlin has been given, she is going to raise money to give back to the children in Moshi.

“I want to raise money for TunaHAKI itself (now that UNC has agreed to cover my airfare and vaccinations and such) because the conditions of the Center are apparently very poor,” she said. “They are in the midst of building a new facility, one with running water and electricity and enough beds for the children, and this money will go toward that.”

To raise money for the orphanage, Kaitlin and her mom’s students in the gymnastics program at Shelby City Park are hosting a Cartwheel-a-thon May 17 from 9 a.m. to noon.

About TunaHAKI

TunaHAKI houses approximately 20 street children, mostly orphans, and provides them with food, education and a family life. These children are not up for adoption as in some orphanages, but have found a home at TunaHAKI. They perform acrobatics and drama for tourists in order to fund the orphanage.

In addition to raising money for the orphanage, Kaitlin’s goal is to study the way TunaHAKI, known for its focus on acrobatics and drama, promotes the physical and social development of the resident children.

Upon her return to UNC in the fall, she will continue volunteering at the Franklin Porter Graham Childcare Institute by incorporating a new African dance program, crediting the artists she learns from in Tanzania.

Want to help?

What: Cartwheel-a-thon to raise money for children in Moshi, Tanzania

When: May 17, 9 a.m. to noon; Students may come for any or all of this time to practice their gymnastics, turn cartwheels and have fun. A minimum $10 per student is requested, with more being welcomed.

Where: Shelby City Park gymnastics room

Why: Kaitlin Houlditch-Fair has received a Burch Fellows grant from Chapel Hill to spend 8 weeks in Moshi volunteering at TunaHAKI orphanage as an assistant acrobatics instructor. TunaHAKI is a center housing approximately 20 street children, mostly orphans, and providing them with food, education and a family life. These children are not up for adoption as in some orphanages, but have found a home at TunaHAKI. They perform acrobatics and drama for tourists in order to fund the orphanage. Money raised from the cartwheel-a-thon will be given to the orphanage.

Donate: Contributions may be sent to the City Park or mailed to Dorothy Houlditch, 5017 Brooks Chapel Road, Ellenboro, NC 28040. Make checks payable to Shelby Gymnastics with “TunaHAKI” in the memo line.

Learn more by visiting:http://www.tunahaki.org/

http://www.burchfellows.unc.edu/pastburchfellows.html

Photos of Kaitlin Houlditch Fair and the kids in Moshi

Last semester Kaitlin Houlditch-Fair studied abroad in London and started a gymnastics program at a nursery school down the street from where she lived. This summer she will be working in Moshi volunteering at TunaHAKI orphanage as an assistant acrobatics instructor.

TunaHAKI Photos courtesy of D. Mason Bendewald

The TunaHAKI Centre for Street Children in Moshi, Tanzania, houses approximately 20 street children, mostly orphans, and provides them with food, education and a family life. They perform acrobatics, above, and drama for tourists in order to fund the orphanage.

“It is fair to say that I have been doing cartwheels from a very young age," Kaitlin said.