Lakeside students turn business into charity

An afternoon of coloring and drawing morphed into a business, and then into a charity to aid young adults with cancer, for a group of Levy-Lakeside Elementary School fourth-graders this year.

The students, who are 8 to 10 years old, have raised more than $250 this year by creating and selling bookmarks. They decided to donate the money to Stupid Cancer, a New York-based nonprofit organization that aids and empowers adolescents with cancer.

Amanda Hyman, mother of Levy-Lakeside fourth-grader Ben Hyman, said the idea to do the project was all the children’s own. She said the classmates were stuck inside at recess one day this winter because of the snow and cold, and teachers gave out paper and markers for the children to draw. They came up with the concept to make and sell creatively designed bookmarks, calling their “company” Bookmark Mania.

After Levy-Lakeside sixth-graders donated money from a dance-a-thon to Stupid Cancer, the fourth-graders decided they wanted to contribute too. Several times this spring, they got together at one another’s houses and held lawn sales of their bookmarks to passers-by.

“The thing I liked about it was that it was self-propelled by the kids, not their parents or the school,” Hyman said. “… I’m so proud of the kids.”

She said she received a phone call last month from Stupid Cancer CEO Matthew Zachary after she contacted the organization about the children’s efforts. He expressed enthusiasm for the project, Hyman said, and thanked the children by sending them Stupid Cancer-embossed bracelets.