Student helps spread kindness to kids undergoing surgery
5th grader William Hadfield had big dreams to spread kindness to children who are undergoing surgery for a cleft palate or cleft lip.
[Jan 14, 2022: Alexis Tarrazi]
William Hadfield and his mother Dr. Stella Mellas display the 211 cards designed by students from Warren Township Schools for children in South America undergoing cleft lip and cleft palate surgery. (CREDIT: Warren Township Schools)
Warren fifth-grader William Hadfield had big dreams to spread kindness to children who are undergoing surgery for a cleft palate or cleft lip. And he accomplished just that when he recruited his whole class to pen 211 letters to the kids.
Hadfield, a student at Angelo L. Tomaso (ALT) School, got the idea after watching a commercial on TV about cleft palates. He decided that he wanted to write letters to children in South America who were in the process of having corrective surgery.
Broadening his mission, he reached out to his cousins and even his Spanish Teacher Noralys Rebimbas to suggest that his peers in class also write letters.
"I think we should all write letters to kids that are getting surgery for Operation Smile. We can write the letters in Spanish and this way they can feel like they have friends in America that are thinking about them. Do you want me to write my letter and then when we collect a lot of letters from everyone in the school I can mail them to the kids?" wrote Hadfield to his teacher.
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Rebimbas was very happy to take Hadfield's suggestion and she even widened the scope by inviting all third, fourth, and fifth-grade students from Woodland School and ALT to create letters for children in South America undergoing surgery.
At the close of the assignment, Hadfield was able to take home 211 letters from the children of Warren Township Schools. The letters will be hand-delivered to children by surgeons through Operation Smile.
Dr. Stella Mellas, Hadfield's mother who is a doctor of orthodontics in Basking Ridge, and Rebimbas are both extremely proud of William for coming up with such a thoughtful, creative, and kind project.
"These cards will certainly bring a smile, 'sonrisa,' to the children who receive them," said Rebimbas.
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Note: Materials provided above by Alexis Tarrazi. Content may be edited for style and length.
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Tags: #Good_News, #Student, #Dentistry, #Kids_Doing_Good, #Kindness, #Compassion, #Generosity, #The_Brighter_Side_of_News
