By CharLy Markwart
PRINCETON — Kayla McKinney is a little girl with a very big heart.
When the nine (almost 10) year-old Mercer School fourth-grader heard about the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti and the heartbreaking devastation that followed, like many Americans, she was saddened. But, unlike most people many times her age, Kayla decided then and there to do something about it.
“My mom and I were just driving along, and our teacher had been talking about the earthquake that day and so were a lot of people in my class,” said the youngster, a tangible passion for her cause coming through in her voice. “My aunt had told me about it, too, and I was thinking about a lesson we had had in school about helping people. I thought I should do something to help the people in Haiti, and I just thought about giving them teddy bears.”
And, so started 'Peace, Love, Teddy Bears', Kayla's campaign to collect furry friends for the Haitian children who have lost everything else.
“I wanted to give something to the kids in Haiti, and I just thought they could use a friend,” she said. “I always like to have a Teddy bear as a friend; it comforts me. I heard that anything they get, they really like, because they don't have anything. So, our goal is to get 5,000 Teddy bears to give to them.”
So far, the campaign has already garnered hundreds of bears, and Kayla is just getting started. Wednesday, she spent the afternoon with her mom, Melissa, owner of Stages Music School, hanging up hand-colored posters promoting the campaign around town. Thursday, she went on the local news to ask for Teddy donations, and, in February, she'll host a concert at Stages to bring in more bears and monetary donations to help offset the cost of shipping.
“We're going to be collecting bears until about the beginning of March,” she said. “I also have friends in North Carolina and South Carolina collecting bears, too. After I thought of this, we found another person who had thought of the same thing, and his is called Blair's Bears. We called them and when we're done, we're going to send our bears to them and they're going to send them all to Haiti together.”
With a bear drop-off box already overflowing at Stages, the McKinneys are looking for more collection sites where community members with a heart for the Haitians will be able to donate their 'gently used or new' stuffed animals. Beginning tomorrow, a box will be available at the Princeton Public Library, and Melissa hopes more local businesses and organizations will sign on soon to help out with the cause that found its way into her young daughter's heart earlier this month.
“I was so proud of her when she told me about this idea, because she came up with it all by herself,” she said. “I really try, not just with her but with my students at Stages, too, to push community-minded events. I think it's really important to start that at a young age, because they need to see that the world is bigger than just them, and that's hard to see even as an adult, but especially as a child. I can't comprehend the horror of the situation in Haiti, and I know she can't, but at least doing something like this can give her some kind of a feel for what other people are going through.”
This isn't Kayla's first experience with charity. Each year, on a day that most children see as a time to pick up gifts for themselves, this generous youngster uses her birthday as a time to complete a project for others. In years past, she has asked attendees of her party to bring pet food for the local humane society in lieu of gifts; this year, with her birthday coming up in February, she'll ask friends and family to bring Teddy bears.
“It's not really going to be hard for me to have them bring bears instead of presents,” she said, “because I know how much the kids in Haiti need a friend.”
That kind of selflessness, her mother dotes, is inspiring in a world where adults and children alike have become so consumed with self.
“It really puts things in perspective,” she said. “Because, even for me, when I try to be so aware; I forget every day how lucky we are. This just makes me so proud of Kayla that I want to cry.”
And, even though a Teddy bear may seem a small gift to many kids in America, Melissa says, the bears shipped to Haiti in March will be cherished presents to the children living in a world of loss, fear and loneliness.
“We have read that a Teddy bear is a prized possession there; like having a diamond,” she said. “Even though it's a small thing…”
“It's like us getting something huge,” Kayla finished.
Teddy bears can be dropped off at Stages, on Mercer Street, or at the Princeton Public Library, through February. The Peace, Love, Teddy Bears benefit concert, featuring Kayla's band Miss Behavin, along with Whiplash, will take place Feb. 18, 6 p.m., at Stages. Admission will be a Teddy bear. To make your business a Teddy bear drop-off point, or for more information, call Stages at (304) 425-7529.
— Contact CharLy Markwart at cmarkwart@ptonline.net.
