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Lying down, Barbara Principe ’26 writes a message on her card. In addition to colorful drawings, members included kind words in their cards. “[At] other Outreach events, you just kind of make cards and you don’t know who you’re giving them to,” Principe said. “[At] this one you could see who the kids were, what they liked, and make cards personalized for them.”
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Industrious, Alyssa Santos ’26 looks at her child’s interests on the CC4C website. To make cards more personal, members were given information about their child’s interests and hobbies. “[I really liked] getting to know the kids and realizing how similar like their hobbies and personalities are to me,” Santos said.
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Writing letters of love, Outreach Club came together to spread kindness and care to underlooked children on Tuesday, Jan. 28, where they made Valentine’s Day cards for kids in partnership with Cheyanna’s Champions for Children (CC4C). The organization attempts to enhance the quality of life for children in Texas with rare and undiagnosed conditions, aiming to carry out its mission in diverse ways that involve the community.
CC4C’s ‘Project Valentine’ initiative spotlights 15 children each year and gives them boxes of Valentine’s Day cards. The cards attempt to uplift children in upsetting situations, while also taking care to focus on the positives and not reference the children’s illnesses at all.
“I think that [not mentioning their illnesses] makes [the cards] more meaningful, because it makes them feel less like their illness is like their entire personality,” Elly Roel ‘27 said. “[The cards show that] it’s not about [their] illness, it’s about them as a person.”
Members also tried to add a personal touch to cards, using information provided by the CC4C to customize cards regarding each child’s distinct interests.
“My favorite part about this event is that we get to personalize the cards for specific children, and we get to [learn] their interests,” Outreach Club President Sahiti Oruganti ‘25 said. “[We also get to] talk about our own interests in their cards.”
Members were encouraged to be imaginative with their cards, utilizing various colors and designs to create eye-catching cards for the children they were assigned.
“I [really liked] getting to design [the cards] and make them fun and colorful for [the kids],” Roel said. “Knowing that the kids are gonna enjoy them, and thinking that they’re gonna definitely have fun getting to read them.”
For numerous members, the highlight of the experience was not only the chance to utilize their arts and crafts skills but also the responses from the children who received the cards for themselves.
“[I know] they feel really happy and like to have a huge smile on their faces [when they get the cards], [and] see that a lot of people care for them,” Elisa Santos ‘26 said.
Valentine’s Day in particular was chosen due to its unique non-sectarian focus on spreading love and loving each other. For Oruganti, ‘Project Valentine’ is all about sharing love and spreading joy to the community.
“I feel like a lot of this event is gifting each other things. With underprivileged kids, they don’t have enough money, maybe often too, to [do that],” Oruganti said. “So when they get it themselves, even if it’s strangers helping them out, I feel like it just spreads the joy, and they [also] get something they’ve never had before.”
