For volunteers, play turns into kindness at Little Flower

A lot of people on Long Island need help, love and care. The reason I know this is because I volunteer at Little Flower Children and Family Services of New York in Wading River.

My church and I go every Wednesday and all throughout the year to share hope, love and kindness to these kids. Little Flower is a nonprofit organization that helps children, families and individuals with developmental disabilities and those without homes. They find loving foster homes, help children go back to their own families and help young adults start life on their own.

My family, church volunteers, friends and I go there and we do events, play sports such as kickball, softball and basketball, and mentor the kids, too. Every year we go to their carnival. When we attend the carnival, we go to stations that need help. When we hold our basketball camp and cheer camp every summer at our church, we invite them to participate and help out. In the summer we have kickball tournaments and we play games on the playground.

On Wednesdays we go to the gym or to the cafe. In the gym they play basketball and other sports and games. In the cafe we have arts and crafts to do with other kids. When we mentor the kids, we bring them home for a day and we go to the park, eat out and do other activities.

Info: littleflowerny.org

George Marino’s sixth-grade class, Eastport Elementary School