May 18, 2007

Tikes on trikes

Evergreen Valley Preschoolers hold trike-a-thon to raise
funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

By Diego Abeloos
Editor

When Evergreen Valley Preschool Director Sunita Prakash wanted to teach her young students about giving back to those in need, she ended up getting more than she bargained for, and so did St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Patrick Borges, Nathan Lott, Thrisha Praveen, Anaaya Dalal and Aryak Rekhi of Evergreen Preschool get ready to ride their bikes during a Trike-A-Thon to raise money for St. Jude Children's Hospital on May 4. Aside from helping others with the event, which raised about $1,400, it also gave the students an important lesson on bicycle safety. Photos by Dan Miranda

Wanting to show her 56 students the value of giving back, Prakash and St. Jude Hospital joined forces quickly, as the school held a trike-a-thon in the hospital’s honor on May 4. All told, all 56 students took part in the event, with the children receiving monetary donations for their race around the school’s blacktop playground from parents and family friends. All of the funds, approximately $1,400, went back to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, located in Memphis, TN.

Prakash said the event was an overwhelming success and said she’s proud of the way her students responded when presented with the task.

“Once we set it up, the children were really ready to help,” Prakash said. “The idea was to really teach them different ideals. One of them was to develop empathy for other people, or children who may need help. Children are very aware of that, and that was my major goal for them, to understand that there are children out there who really need help and support.”

As part of the event, the school’s children also received another important lesson from the hospital itself, which sent a lesson packet to the school that taught the students bicycle safety and the importance of always wearing a bike helmet. Prakash said when the children at her school heard about the plight of young patients at St. Jude, they sprang into action, asking their parents for monetary donations and of course – new bike helmets for the trike-a-thon.

Arav Patel of Evergreen Preschool adjusts his bike helmet before the start of the Trike-A-Thon.

“Many of them didn’t have helmets, so they had to go to stores and get new helmets,” Prakash said of the school’s parents. “They were very thankful that we introduced helmets and safety rules for them, along with teaching them to help other people.”

St. Jude was founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas and opened in 1962 with the sole purpose of conducting clinical research on deadly childhood diseases, including cancer. In terms of patient enrollment, the hospital is the largest of its kind in the world, treating about 160 patients each day. Since its opening in 1962, the hospital has treated children from all 50 U.S. states and more than 70 other countries.

All three of the school’s classrooms took part in the trike-a-thon event, featuring two age groups ranging in age from three-and-a-half to six years old, as well as one age group ranging in age from two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half years old.

“Three to six is a very special age,” Prakash said. “Whatever you give them by bringing them into a new environment, then that’s what they learn. Once we started talking about how other children needed help, it was overwhelming. They went home and talked to their parents about it and said, ‘I want to do the trike-a-thon because I want to help other children who are sick.’”

And while the lessons on bicycle safety were certainly worthwhile, Prakash said the greater gift from the event was knowing that the school helped out other youngsters in need.

“Usually, we don’t have any fundraisers at school; this is the only fundraiser we are doing because it helps other people,” Prakash said. “…Being at a children’s school, my heart is always with the children.”