Ms. Lueck's 4th grade class showing off their personalized cards and jeans ribbons with Carrie Ostrea, co-founder of the Little Miss Hannah Foundation
On February 24, 2012, Vanderburg Elementary School celebrated World Rare Disease Day by participating in Jeans for Genes day. The kids and staff were encouraged to forgo school uniforms and wear jeans that day as well as their “Be Kind” shirts (Josh Stevens Foundation), and it was amazing to see such a beautiful sea of denim throughout the school!
Over 800 students created jeans ribbons and personalized cards of hope to be shared with families with children fighting rare diseases. In addition, the higher grade classrooms were asked to write their reflections of why it is important for rare disease awareness, the symbolism of what jeans ribbons mean, as well as how they think they would feel if they had a family member affected by a rare disease..
The cards that were shared were so touching, sweet, and most of all, they came from hearts of these children. These cards are going to be shared with our childhood rare disease families here in Vegas through Cure 4 the Kids as well as be sent nationwide to other families through the Global Genes Project.
Thank you to Ms. Maggiore, the principal at Vanderburg, for making this an annual event! The amount of time and resources she has allowed us for this day is incredible, and it shows that she truly believes in the need of rare disease awareness in our community. We can’t wait for next year – our THIRD year!
To see our photo gallery from this year’s event, please click here.