Whiz Kids: Anne Hutchinson Student Leadership Council

Name: Members of Anne Hutchinson Student Leadership Council (community service group)
School/Grade: Anne Hutchinson Elementary School, Eastchester fifth grade
Accomplishment: The group has gathered approximately 700 Beanie Babies for the Beanies4Babies organization.

Key to Awesomeness:
Everyone loves Beanie Babies, but what do you do with your beloved Beanie after the love for it has grown cold? The Anne Hutchinson Student Leadership Council has a great solution: Donate it to them.  In turn, the students will sort them, clip the tag, sterilize them and send them to Beanies4Preemies, an organization in Arizona that sends the Beanies to new homes--the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for premature infants in several different pediatric hospitals.

“This initiative is one of ongoing fundraisers we have," Gina Zohan, an art teacher and adviser to the group. "We have collected Beanie Babies that we have collected as children that we didn’t want to see go into the garbage or into landfills. We researched an organization called Beanies4Preemies, where the children could send their Beanie Babies to. The children collect the Beanie Babies, they cut the tags, they make sure they are the right type of Beanie Baby, and count, sort, and package the Beanies for shipping.”

In just a few months, the Anne Hutchinson Student Leadership Council, comprised of 100 fifth graders, has collected approximately 700 of the stuffed animals.

Students at Anne Hutchinson like Sreegi Sheedharan, 11, love helping others by doing this project.

“I feel really good.  It’s a great that we can help little babies in Arizona. I like community service and helping others.  I want to do more community service in the future,” said Sheedharan.

Another student, Jesse Lama, have a personal connection with premature babies.
 
“Well, my little sister, Annie, was premature.  She was pretty small and came a month early. I remember when she was a baby, I was pretty scared when she came early. When she came home, she was really small and I was afraid to hold her,” said Lama.

Kimberly Skalaski even donated her favorite Beanie.

“I donated two garbage bags full of Beanie Babies. My favorite Beanie I donated was named Squirt, she was a dolphin and we have the same birthday.  Dolphins are one of my favorite animals,” said Skalaski.

Note: Beanies4Babies only accepts Ty-branded Beanies, because they are the only ones that are not made with the toxin, PolyVinyl Chloride (PVC).

Do you know a kid who has raised money for charity, scored the winning goal at the big game or regularly helps out in the community? We want to hear about it! Send your nominations for individuals, teams or groups of kids to monique.johnson725@gmail.com and they could be featured in an upcoming Whiz Kid story.