Hearts for Haiti
<p>Babby Garasky, 3, pastes decorations to a heart-shaped picture frame Thursday during a Kidserve service project called Hearts for Haiti. The artwork will be available for purchase at area businesses with all donations benefitting a Haitian orphanage.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - A troop of tiny philanthropists, some still in diapers, did their part Thursday to help earthquake victims in Haiti.
With their moms, the young children spread out across drop cloths on the floor of the activity room at the Lake City Senior Center, painting and gluing heart-themed art pieces. Their work will be sold in area businesses with the proceeds benefitting Le Foyer Baptiste Pour Enfants, S.E., an orphanage completely destroyed in the disaster.
"I don't think you can start too early with helping the children understand there is a bigger world out there, and there are people who don't have the things we do," said Taylor Rigg, mother of four children ages 6 down to 3 months.
The project was coordinated by KidServe, a loosely organized group of area moms who bring their children together to do service projects.
The group has been in existence for about three months and the "Hearts for Haiti" painting endeavor is their third service project.
Last month, the group visited the Kootenai County Humane Society.
"The more we get them out in the community, we think the more well-rounded they'll be," Rigg said.
For parents who purchase their child's pastel-colored, painted canvas, the cost is $10. The pieces parents don't purchase will be placed for sale in area businesses throughout the county. All proceeds will go directly to the orphanage.
Pat Hogan and her daughter, Evelyn, 14, were on hand during the painting project.
Hogan and her husband adopted Evelyn and her younger sister, Jocelyn, from the orphanage in Haiti when the girls were toddlers.
"I'm kind of overwhelmed," Hogan said, as she watched the moms and little ones file in and paint.
It's especially poignant, she said, because the director of the orphanage, a pastor who they've stayed in touch with since the adoptions, is still missing.
"He doesn't even know this is happening," she said.
Several area schools are raising funds for this same orphanage.
KidServe information is available on the group's Facebook page.