Mrs Larson and her class, with mom Petrolina and son Zack. The students are making their own ornaments and decorating
a tree that will be offered by silent auction
Many people who live on St John have an island name. There is Straw Hat Dave (yes, he always wears a straw hat), Mr Wonderful (our friend Leo Maximum who drives a Safari Taxi, builds just about anything, and, yes, is pretty outgoing), Pumpkin (the St John supervisor for VITELCO, St John's telephone company) and, now '
Christmas Tree Martha
'.
Christmas Tree Martha is a dynamo of a person who has a passion for helping the kids of St John. Her view, one we love, is that all kids have Abilities, not DisAbilities. Martha is striving to bring those Abilities alive to shine for all to see.
Over the years Martha's interests have grown to appreciate kids with lots of different disAbilities and last year, with the support of the St John Community Foundation, she founded the Adaptive Tennis Program for St John. Meeting every Tuesday morning at the St John public tennis court Martha, several volunteers, and a bunch of super eager kids come to the tennis court to experience just how able they are!
KD Munnelly, Special Education teacher at Julius Sprauve School, with her students and Martha Toomey.
Making paper chains!
Now, back to Christmas Tree Martha. This year Martha is offering christmas tree decorating services (upstairs at the Starfish Marketplace) and 100% of the profit will go to support her St John programs such as the Adaptive Tennis Program! If you would like to support the kids of St John stop by the Marketplace and buy a tree or a decoration. Not on St John -too bad for you!- but you still can help by contacting Martha directly on her Facebook page (Christmas Tree Martha) and she will be happy to tell you how to contribute to help the kids. Donate (minimum bid of $100) to win the decorated tree in their silent auction! For more information about the variety of Christmas trees (including one decorated by Sloop Jones take a look at the recent issue of the St John Tradewinds.
Martha, several volunteers, and budding tennis stars
If you find yourself on St John stop by the tennis court any Tuesday morning (usually around 8:30 AM) to volunteer and meet some of the kids. You will be the better for it!