On Nov. 26, eighth grade students from Windham Middle School’s Altitude Pathway visited the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital to donate books that they had been collecting throughout the month of November. This is the third year that Altitude has collected books for the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital, and during a trip to the hospital, the students donated 90 books to be used by patients there.
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| Altitude students from Windham Middle School show a few of the books they collected while visiting Barbara Bush Children's Hospitalin Portland last month. Front, from left, are Karina Fulkerson, Caitlyn McKeeman, Alli Muir, Autumn Carlsen-Cook, and hospital employee Sharon Granville. Back, from left, are Lisa Anderson, Carter Coffin, Isaiah Duford, Saige Lombardo, Cooper Fournelle, Ryder Matheson, Katherine Jones, and Kayjah Veilleux. PHOTO BY MASHA YURKEVICH |
“Due to our policies here at the hospital, we have to have what we call a ‘giving library,’ where we offer children the opportunity to pick a book, and they get a chance to take it home. We partner with community friends to help us replenish and refresh our library,” Granville said.
Altitude students agree with the saying that it is better to give than to receive.
“My main takeaway from this trip was to be grateful for what you have,” says Kayjah Veilleux, an Altitude student. “I think the children and also their parents are very grateful for what we do, and it feels good to make a difference.”
Student Katherine Jones said that with everything that the children and their families have to go through, donating books is the least they can do to help out.
“Our whole purpose was to gather books to donate to kids who are going through a tough time and to inspire the rest of the community to start thinking in a giving spirit,” said Alli Muir, an Altitude Pathway teacher. “It has been cool to see that the eighth-grade Children’s Hospital Book Drive has inspired younger students in the school to start talking about wanting to make and donate things as well.”
Altitude teacher Autumn Carlsen-Cook said that this is a great way to practice compassion and empathy with our community with the idea that kids put themselves in the position of another kid who might be going through a hard time.
“We want to celebrate community and giving back to others,” says Lisa Anderson, an Altitude Pathway teacher.
The donated books are not just for distraction or enjoyment, but are sometimes used for educational purposes, as there is an on-site teacher. The hospital has children from infants to older adolescents, with 30 pediatric beds that care for pediatric patients with all different reasons for being at the hospital, eight beds in the intensive care unit, and fifty beds for a separate unit that care for their smallest patients.
The children at the hospital are grateful for the books that are donated.
“One of the first things that comes to mind for me is the fun connection for a child to see the title of the book that they got; for a child to see a favorite or to see a book that they were looking forward to,” says Granville. “I greatly appreciate the input from our teacher to know what are those popular that kids are reading now, and those are the books that we sometimes connect with community friends to donate to us. For a child to find that book that they have been wanting is such a nice thing to be able to offer to our patients. It is a wonderful way to support both developmental needs as well as emotional wellbeing while these children are in the hospital.”
She said that the Hospital also has opportunities for adults to volunteer for the children.
“We ask for a weekly commitment for a minimum of six months just because of the unique setting that we are,” says Granville.
A volunteer is someone who brings developmental play and gets to know the kids for who they are, not the reason that they are in the hospital. For the staff, their main focus for the children is why are you here and what is different about your body at this time, where volunteers have a primary focus of getting to know the patient better as a person and what do they like to do, based on age, interest, and activities.
“We love partnering with our community friends. I think it is a great project for school students to be able to know that they are making a difference to others who are experiencing a tough time,” says Granville. “No one knows or anticipates when they are going to need to come to the hospital, and it is nice to know that you had a chance to give back and that you are making a difference in the day of someone who may not be feeling well.”
The Altitude program at WMS is an alternative hands-on learning opportunity which focuses on service. It helps connect academically and aims to help students forge strong supportive relationships to foster confidence and trust while developing social skills and improved communication. <
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