COMMUNITY & CULTURE
inspirational messages that children in the Ferguson/
Florissant School District can pin on their backpacks and
clothes or display in their classrooms to show their support.
Once the hearts are sent to Susie, she then distributes
them to teachers in the school to give to their students.
“There are eight elementary schools in the Ferguson
neighborhood,” Susie said. Some carry inspirational
messages with simple words like “Peace” and “Hope,”
and elaborate “markered” designs, all with an overall
message that illustrate that the students are loved, and
their lives are important.
“I composed a letter on behalf of all the heart makers
explaining to the kids why we made them and what we
hope the message will send to them,” she said. “I give
teachers an individual pack of hearts for their classroom,
and the teachers then have conversations with the kids
and present the letter and hearts to them.”
Susie feels that the project has helped to give everyone
a sense of purpose, as well as help the children who are
participating understand the greater awareness of this
event beyond their own community.
“For the kids that are receiving them, I have been
amazed at hearing their responses - they just had no
idea that people even knew about their community, and
they are ‘floored’ that someone in Florida has any idea
what’s happening in Ferguson,” she said. “That’s sort of
the basis of therapy - we want to make people feel like
they’re not alone and that there’s hope. I think just the
simple symbol in their hands coming from somebody
from far away is a little symbol of hope and connection.”
So far, over 3,000 hearts have been received since the
program started in August, and Susie is campaigning
for more to give to the over 11,000 elementary school
students in the district. Anyone can make a heart to send
to Susie, and so far, she has received participation from
states as far as New York and Georgia - and some have
even come from Australia. Her next goal is to connect
schools from across the city and county to work on a
collaborative art project with students in the Ferguson/
Florissant area. But the impact goes farther than the
classroom, Susie said.
“I know I sometimes feel helpless to affect change as an
adult. If nothing else, I feel like if we can take the small
steps necessary to help our kids to have greater awareness
of one another, our kids to feel more empowered to reach
out and to help communities, bigger changes can happen,
bigger programs can happen,” she said.
57
For more information,
visit Facebook.com/heartsforferguson.
SAVVY I SOPHISTICATED I SASSY