St. Monica School adopts a “sparrow””

Published 4:31 pm Monday, November 24, 2008

By Katherine Sather

Students at St. Monica School recently launched their third community service campaign to support a critically ill child.

They’re raising money to support Abigail Darden, a Federal Way child who is battling leukemia, as part of their participation in Sparrow Clubs USA. The nation-wide program was started by Jeff Leeland, a former Kirkland resident and teacher in the Lake Washington School District. It asks students to raise money for children like Abigail, who face expensive bills from their treatment, through community service acts like lemonade stands and completing household chores.

Abigail is the third child that St. Monica students have supported through Sparrow Club. Leeland said students benefit from the club because they have a way to channel their eagerness to give, which Principal Pam Dellino said has happened at St. Monica.

“It’s helped develop a sense of compassion,” she said. “The students understand helping someone else makes a difference for that person, and for themselves inside.”

Leeland’s organization was born in 1992 when his nine-month-old son, Michael, needed a bone marrow transplant. A student in his special education P.E. class at Kamiakin Junior High emptied his bank account to help Leeland pay for the $200,000 treatment. The student, Dameon, could only give $60, but the act inspired the rest of the students and the community, which raised $227,000 in less than four weeks.

“Dameon chose to put his energy toward helping others,” Leeland told St. Monica students.

The act inspired Leeland to start Sparrow Clubs USA. Since then, schools have sponsored more than 200 critically ill children. To participate, schools must find a corporate sponsor to donate $4,060. QFC stores are sponsoring St. Monica School on Mercer Island. In order to give the money to the patient, students have to earn it with community service acts like household chores, lemonade stands or volunteering. Leeland said it can change the climate of a school.

“There’s kids who maybe have three zits on their face and they think their world is going to end, then all of a sudden they think `I have a lot to be thankful for,”’ he said. “It’s about the capacity in the kids’ hearts.”

Dellino wanted to bring a charity program that would become a permanent part of the culture at St. Monica and said Sparrow Clubs have been a good fit. Last year, the school adopted Charlotte Sutphen, a severely disabled girl currently being treated at Seattle Children’s Hospital. In 2003, students helped out a 13-year-old girl named Anndria Sutter, who has bone cancer.

Their new sparrow lives in Federal Way with her mother, Misty, and older sister Brianna. At last week’s reception, she was greeted by dozens of students with “We Love Abigail” stickers pinned to their green uniforms. The first grader4 sung her a welcome song and sixth graders gave her “dream books,” full of their dreams for the four-year-old.

Since her mother gave up her job to take care of Abigail, the family is without income. Misty Darden gave every student a letter of thanks and a picture of her daughter, along with a drawing Abigail made. She said she hoped students could one day realize what an important difference they were making.

“Every day of what we’re going through, you’re changing her life,” she said.

Shy Abigail had words to say, too. She looked up from her mom’s shoulder long enough to say she was “beating cancer,” into the microphone.

“This is lifting a burden that you may never understand,” her mother told the students.