Montemalaga students find spirit of giving
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hristy Barner’s young son Charlie spent 11 days in intensive care last year battling inflammation of the heart, or myocarditis. The prognosis was grim, with just 30 percent of those in Charlie’s situation recovering and leading normal lives.
And while the family spent long days and nights at Charlie’s bedside in the hospital, books and letters and blankets and other items of comfort arrived from his classmates at Montemalaga Elementary School.
Charlie recovered, and the experience showed Christy how much the gifts meant to her son during a very stressful time; the first-grader still sleeps with the blankets he was given during his hospital stay.
“This community really just wrapped its arms around my family,” Christy Barner said.
After experiencing the power of gifts in the hospital, Christy Barner is now helping with a campaign to donate art boxes to hospitalized children, called Art with a Heart.
Last week at Montemalaga, students stuffed boxes full of art supplies for pediatric patients. The program is sponsored by Art To Grow On Children’s Art Center, Inc. and Starlight Children’s Foundation.
