We shared the news with you last month that past Stone Soup contributor Sabrina Guo, a freshman at Syosset High School in NY, created new organization called LILAC, a student-led organization dedicated to serving the affected patients, medical professionals and first responders fighting during the coronavirus epidemic. LILAC is devoted to a multi-disciplinary and wide-scale approach of affecting change and instilling hope. Stone Soup is proud to be associated with LILAC, and we congratulate Sabrina on her initiative and its continuing fantastic work. So far, LILAC has raised over $57,000 on GoFundMe, which includes a generous donation by Sabrina of part of her college savings of $40,000 and all of her personal savings of $950. With these funds they have ordered 25,000 masks and 1,000 coveralls/gowns for areas of critical need, and donated them to hospitals, medical facilities, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, first responders, fire departments, and local government offices. Their ThankYou & WeCare Initiative raises the medical community’s and patients’ spirits by compiling and distributing encouraging letters, cards, artwork, and creative videos in a dedicated space where all can come to enjoy uplifting works which show solidarity, support and appreciation. These submissions are then donated alongside PPE to the countless facilities that LILAC has already served, and they are always received with a grateful smile and an open heart. In recognition of LILAC’s leadership and service to the community, the Nassau County Legislature issued an official government proclamation of citation: you can watch a video of the presentation of this honor to Sabrina from her community here. Many congratulations, Sabrina. Additionally, LILAC has partnered with politicians like Legislator Josh Lafazan and NY Congressman Tom Suozzi, and has gained support from Johns Hopkins’ Center for Talented Youth’s Study of Exceptional Talent, a nonprofit for gifted children called the Davidson’s Institute, local newspapers, and school district administrators and other community and cultural leaders. LILAC has also begun expanding to the rest of New York State and nationally, donating masks to upstate New York medical clinics and funds to underserved undocumented families and children in New Orleans, and is looking for students to participate and join the cause! Stone Soup is working with LILAC to offer support and assistance as they reach out to the wider national and international community. If you’re interested, and would like to follow the campaign, or make a donation, you can find the GoFundMe campaign here; and pick up news and updates via Instagram. Stone Soup is proud to support this great initiative, and we hope our readers will consider doing so, as well. And, to all our readers–what local initiatives are you involved with during this crisis? Let us know so we can stand together, offer our support, and spread the word to the rest of the Stone Soup community! LILAC in the news Long Island Herald Syosset Jericho Tribune, 04/08/20 Syosset Jericho Tribune, 04/01/20 Syosset Jericho Tribune, 03/24/20
My Dream Goes On, a poem by Ethan Zhang, 7
My Dream Goes On By Ethan Zhang, 7 Before my basketball dream comes true, The coronavirus began to sweep through. I hope I can be back at the court, To play for my team at our fort. I hope this invisible defender will be defeated, The arena will again be lightened. It seemed now everything was doomed, It felt like everything gloomed. But I know that one day all this will end, My crossover will not bend. From now not too long, My dream will once again go on. Ethan Zhang, 7 McLean Virginia
The Monster, a short story by Haopu (Max) Xu, 10
The Monster By Haopu (Max) Xu, 10 The monster’s name is Ackalasaf. You could find him in the depths of the breathtakingly scary wardrobe in Castle Fagg Ghast on a small island floating in the middle of the Pacific. Ackalasaf smells a trillion times worse than tons of rotten eggs and you can smell it even when you are still 1000 km away sailing towards the Castle. He looks like a giant snake with a quadrillion heads of different species (spider, bat, turtle, scorpion, hawk and any other species you may think of). The monster’s whole body is covered by sharp blackish dagger-like scales with billions of creepy green eyes on them staring at you all the time. It also has a thousand arms and tens of thousands hands with each hand having a very deadly type of poison. If you dare to touch it, you will die in 0.01 second. You could kill the scary Ackalasaf by stabbing it right in its heart one hundred consecutive times with the sharpest dagger you could ever find, but sadly Ackalasaf is as heavy as hundreds of full grown lions and as powerful as trillions of Minotaurs combined together, and your chance to win him is really very low. Feel horrified by Ackalasaf? But to tell the the truth: right now there is something more deadly dangerous and widely spread than Ackalasaf: COVID-19. SO LET’S DO OUR BEST TO KEEP ACKALASAF AND COVID-19 SOCIAL DISTANCE AWAY FROM US. Haopu (Max) Xu, 10 Oakville, ON, Canada
