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FOOTHILLS—As soon as the roads were cleared of downed trees and floodwaters from Tropical Storm Helene, Champions for Wildlife visited a local shelter to provide art supplies and interact with children there.

“It’s so great to be doing art again,” one little boy in the Red Cross shelter exclaimed as he learned about box turtles and decorated cardboard turtle shells.

CWF met the mom of a large family who shared her harrowing rescue experience through the flood waters of the Pacolet River. She appreciates everything being done for their family and was happy her kids had some wildlife art to do at the shelter.

The kids passed around fossilized turtle shells as they learned about box turtles and decorated their own shells. The next day, the focus was on red wolves, and the group carved wolf heads in round clay medallions, which the kids got to keep.

Out of the Red Cross shelter experience, the idea of Sunshine & Smiles wildlife art kits was born. These kits give kids impacted by the storm art supplies and activities to learn about protecting wildlife, empowering them to make a difference despite the devastation.

These bilingual kits in English and Spanish are being made available to local organizations providing disaster relief. The first batch of kits was assembled by a team of volunteers at Tryon Estates led by Cobie Smith, who also joined CFW in the Red Cross shelter.

The kits include coloring sheets, wildlife activities, crayons, colored pencils, and wiki sticks, waxed yarn sticks that form shapes, such as wild animals like spiders and red wolves.

Donations and volunteers are welcome to support CFW’s work and help provide more kits to kids. To learn more about Champions for Wildlife, visit championsforwildlife.org or contact Loti Woods at loti@championsforwildlife.org.

 

Submitted by Loti Woods