By Alexia Bedassie | Contributing Writer
For this season of love, we give back to those in need. On Feb 9th, room 289 in GC, the Make-A-Smile Crafts club held their Make-A-Smile Valentine’s Day event.
Lasting from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., the event displayed a whole bunch of little wooden charms, papers, stickers, and other art supplies. People of all kinds are welcome to sit down and get crafty by creating heartfelt gifts for children at the Deveruex Therapeutic Foster Care.
Fellow event goers working on crafts | Alexia Bedassie, PantherNOW
Make-A-Smile Crafts Club’s mission is to bring joy to those in need. Specifically with the Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health nonprofit organization, where children and adults who are struggling day in and day out with medical issues, such as mental or developmental health difficulties, are treated.
The club’s president, Psychology Senior Saina Amir-Zadeh-Shams, was a delight to hear from when asking about the club, the event and their goal to spread joy for this Valentine’s Day. “What we do is we make crafts for children at the Deveruex Therapeutic Foster care, which houses foster children that have intellectual and behavioral disabilities,” said the president.
Understanding this, the council members thought to create this club to show that the individuals established with this organization should be shown lots of love. Essentially showing them that they aren’t alone in their recovery journeys and that the students of FIU stand with them.
Some of the little colored charms that will be sent to the kids | Alexia Bedassie, PantherNOW
The event consisted of multiple crafts that will be sent to the Deveruex Therapeutic Foster Care, including plain wooden charms and paper for cards. As for materials to decorate these with, they had markers, crayons, stickers, little gems to stick on and many more.
“Before this event, we’ve been making just cards, but now we’re trying to improve the crafts we’re making. Like how we’re making little modern key chains and stuff,” said Amir-Zadeh-Shams.
As the event went on, the club’s social media manager, Psychology Freshman Denika Vanterpool, shared some insight on the event. She even had some thoughts to share about her time with the club.
“This is my second time coming to a Make-A-Smile Crafts event, and it was really fun and relaxing. I think that what they’re doing is meaningful work and they actually had an E-board position open to do the social media managing. So, I’m excited to grow my skills and I’m ready for the next event,” Vanterpool said.
Students getting materials to craft cards | Alexia Bedassie, PantherNOW
There was even a surprise visit from the club’s advisor and Program Manager for Community Engagement Initiatives, Andrea H. Viejo. She came in and was excitedly talking about her deep love and passion for service work. Saying it’s practically an honor and very important to help run this club that gives back to others in need.
“Yeah, we hope that this will help make a smile on the kids’ faces,” Amir-Zadeh-Shams said.
So, why don’t you come down and craft a smile! An amazing thing to see because you can feel the love and compassion radiating from the club, wanting to help these foster kids.
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