In the basement of a home in Lawrenceville, a group of children spend hours of their summer freedom sewing their hearts out, with no computer tablets, cell phones or other electronic devices in sight.
Their colorful projects will make their way to children who, little by little, are losing their hair as a result of cancer. With the hats these children sew, they hope to send a message to the young patients.
“We make these hats so they know they are important to us,” said Emily Roldán, who was in the middle of sewing a fuchsia colored hat.
The generous endeavor came about thanks to Salvadoran native Emma Salamanca, after a parishioner at her church passed away from cancer last year.
“We’re all there together, mothers and daughters, sewing so that we can give a smile to children who have lost their hair because of cancer,” explained Salamanca.
“We just started this project, and we hope to finish it by December. Then we will go to the hospital and deliver the hats,” she added.
For Diana Roldán, mother of Emily and Steven, who are in the group, this experience will teach her children that serving others can be a life style.
“I always enjoy it when my children volunteer and realize about people’s needs and the fact that they are very fortunate to be healthy and that there are people who need our help,” said Roldán, who is originally from Colombia.
For her part, fellow Salvadoran Yuri Hernández enjoys participating in the project because, in addition to the time it allows her to spend with her daughter, Cristal, she is able to do a good deed and teach her daughter a new pastime.
“I’m happy, because I’m teaching her to be altruistic and to understand what she has and to know that, because she has a lot, she can share. If you don’t instill that into your children, nobody will,” said Hernández.
Salamanca hopes that the project will continue to grow and that other families join her mission.
“We want children to learn to give and to know that not everything in life is about receiving, but rather, regardless of how much they have, they can give to others,” assured Salamanca.
Cristal, one of the sewing club participants, spoke about her experience.
“I feel happy, because I’m helping children who are in the hospital, and I can’t imagine what it must feel like to be there,” she shared.
Salamanca, for her part, hopes that the initiative will have a long lasting impact on the young patients.
“We want them to feel that they have something to fight for, that they have a reason to keep going, that there are children out there waiting for them,” she explained.
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