LEXINGTON, Ohio — Fifth graders at Lexington Eastern Elementary School are helping make a young girl’s Christmas wish come true.
Earlier this month, students in Jessica Duffey and Kayla Heimann’s classes created Christmas cards for Safyre Terry, an 8-year-old who was badly burned when she and her relatives were victims of an arson attack two years ago in New York. Terry suffered burns to 75 percent of her body and has had to undergo several medical treatments.
For Christmas this year, Terry wanted enough Christmas cards to fill her Christmas tree card holder. Word got out about her Christmas wish, tugging on the heartstrings of people across the globe — including Eastern Elementary student Alex Martin.
Martin said she was inspired to help fulfill Terry’s request after hearing about her story.
“I just felt like it was a nice thing to do,” she said.
She thought about having her classmates sign a card that she could send, but was encouraged by her mother, Nichole Myers, to see if her classmates would also want to make their own card.
Martin pitched the idea to Duffey, her teacher. Duffey gave her the green light and allotted some time in class for students to work on the cards.
“It was really neat reading them,” Duffey said. “They were just so sweet.”
Many of the students wrote messages like, “You’re beautiful just the way you are,” Duffey said. “It really inspired me to see how compassionate they are,.”
Some students encouraged their family members to make a card to add to the pile. Martin’s older sister, Hannah, 16, created a card and had her classmates and swim teammates sign it.
In her card Hannah wrote, “I want to tell you how inspired I am by your love and happiness. You are so beautiful inside and out! Keep shining your light and keep inspiring!”
Myers said she mailed the students’ cards — all 33 of them — last week. Before doing so, she skimmed over what they said and was touched by what she read.
“I’m so proud of the girls and their compassion,” Myers said. “They’re godly little girls and this is their way of serving the Lord.
“They wrote such positive and encouraging things.”
