Day 3 of the project: Excerpt from email to the state arts council

Aiden and Luanne

I launched the site yesterday morning, and I don't quite know how to explain what happened next. The kids immediately took to the project, folding cranes and posting their photos to the site. Many of them were already familiar with the story of Sadako and the Thousand Cranes, and in the wake of the recent tragedy, they were eager for the opportunity to engage in some creative positivity. Then the responses began to roll in. Pictures from people who heard about the site began appearing on our page. First from Anchorage, then the lower 48, many complete strangers whose pictures came with words of encouragement and hope for St. Michael. By the morning of our second day in existence, we had gone global receiving our first post from Switzerland. The Anchorage Press has picked up our story, as has UAA's Northern Light and ktuu.com, and we are adding new followers to the site at the staggering rate of about 100 per day. Entire organizations have begun pledging their support; one such organization, the Children's Healing Art Project in Oregon, a group dedicated to providing art programs to children in the hospitals battling cancer, has pledged, for one whole week, to have every employee and volunteer fold a crane at the beginning of each shift. We even have a picture from the Coast Guard on its way from Georgia (as soon as everyone in the unit learns how to fold a crane, they said). 

Greg with his crane

This project is making a marked impact on the children here. They have requested to take paper home to fold cranes with their families, (a self imposed homework request I happily obliged), new children are showing up who have thus far been absent from summer school, and kids who only last week were quick to leave as soon as we finished our activities are staying well after the school day, playing music, freestyle dancing, folding cranes and laughing with each other. Today I had to gently encourage the middle schoolers to go home so I could finally clean up the space and get some dinner. They made sure to gather up bundles of colored paper before they went. 

Summer's Cranes