Photo courtesy Lori Jonas St. Frank Shane and St. Peter’s School principal Janet Spallo carry boxes of handmade valentines.

“I had to be mature, and I was only 8 or 9 years old. It gave me the drive to keep focused on school,” the St. Mary’s High School senior said. “I wanted to do something good, a personal project, before I left high school. I had done book drives and some other projects, and I wanted to do something different. Mom and I were sitting around talking one night and I thought of Raye. She spent a lot of time at Children’s Mercy Hospital while she was in therapy for cancer, and somebody gave her a little bear. I thought, ‘yeah, that’s something I could do.’”

Frank started organizing Project Valentine Bear, a small collection drive at St. Mary’s High School, to collect teddy bears intended for oncology patients at Children’s Mercy. He figured there’d be a pretty good response from his school mates. What he didn’t figure on was the response from other schools once the word got out through Richard Soetart, principal at St. Stephen’s.

Our Lady of Lourdes in Raytown, followed quickly by Holy Cross, St. Peter and St. Thomas More schools, all joined in to collect teddy bears and other stuffed animals.

“It grew into a big project in two days,” Frank said.

Raye, now 12, jumped in to help. “I don’t have any bears left,” she wrote in an email, “but I still have a rabbit from one of the nurses. I was her favorite. With the bear project — I did it at my school, I helped count things and wrap some of the bears. I also have a hedgehog stuffed animal from the hospital!”

Raye made fliers and read emails, Frank said. “She was very supportive. It probably made her feel good to be on the other end of the project.”

He contacted Children’s Mercy Hospital for rules on donations. All stuffed animals had to be brand new, with the tags still attached, to avoid the possibility of germ transmission and all donations had to come through the Valentine Bear Project or another approved organization. Frank’s project was approved because of his family’s relationship with the hospital.

With Catholic Schools Week the first week of Feb., the schools kicked into high gear. The collections were to be turned in by Feb. 9. The art teachers at Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Stephen’s expanded on the teddy bear drive to create handmade cards and flowers.

Frank was completely wowed when the teddy bears, valentines and origami flowers were counted.

“We counted 370 new bears and other stuffed animals, about 75 gently used teddy bears, roughly 300 Valentines and 1,000 origami tulips,” he said, still shaking his head in amazement a week later. “The bags filled the St. Mary’s van from floor to ceiling all the seats were filled. We delivered the new stuffed animals and the origami tulips to Children’s Mercy on Feb. 10. KUDL-FM radio helped deliver the Valentines — they were basic Happy Valentine’s Day cards, no reminders like get well soon.”

Lisa Tate of the Volunteer Dept. at Children’s Mercy said that while the bears could not be distributed to oncology patients for fear of infections, they were delivered all over the hospital, including the outpatient clinic.

“Frank’s a great young man, and we are very appreciative of his generosity,” Tate said.

St. Mary’s High School student council members collected other donations, including games, DVDs and used magazines for the hospital’s waiting rooms. The gently used teddy bears were donated to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department to be given to children during domestic violence calls.

Frank plans to attend the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg to study aviation. He plays guitar and drums in two local Blues/classic rock bands, and hopes to continue Project Valentine Bear, turning it into an annual drive.

Raye likes that plan. “I will miss my brother when he goes to college,” she wrote. “I like helping him do projects — I helped with murals and a food drive. He said that I could do the bear drive next year. My school is very excited. My brother will do some when he is home but when he is away I will be in charge.”

Her grin could almost be seen in the email.

END