Boy's Scrapbooking Effort Touches Readers' Hearts

Ten-year-old Vinny Martin created Forever Memories scrapbooking kits to help cancer patients say goodbye to their children.

The project was born when the Alsip boy felt helpless because he couldn't console a friend who lost his mother to cancer.

Vinny Martin, 10, of Alsip, samples a pie during the Year of the Pie annual pie baking contest at MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island. The contest was a fundraiser to buy supplies for Forever Memories scrapbook kits, kits created by Martin for children who have relatives suffering from cancer.

Volunteer Mary Freedom (left) and Alsip resident Vinny Martin, 10, judge samples of pie during the Year of the Pie annual pie baking contest at MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island. It was a fundraiser for Forever Memories scrapbook kits Martin creates for children whose loved ones suffer from cancer.

"I would like kids to scrapbook photographs and mementos of their last days with their parents, and have something they created to have and hold after their parent has gone," Vinny said.

Oncology professionals at several Southland cancer centers welcomed the sample kits as a way to help patients communicate their thoughts, advice and family history to the people they love.

Vinny spent the allowance money he was saving for a Nintendo Wii video game on scrapbook supplies for the sample kits he donated to hospitals. His only stumbling block in helping families cope with cancer is finding money to continue producing Forever Memories gift bags.

That's where SouthtownStar readers came in.

After Vinny's story ran in the paper March 2, a number of readers responded.

"I received eight offers of help from people who read the article," Vinny said.--

"People come up to me saying that it touched them so much that they even shed some tears, even my dad's buddy."

Sharon Weigel, of Orland Park, was so moved by the story she donated supplies for the project and taught Vinny and his mother Misrin a few scrapbooking techniques.

"With scrapbooking, the most important thing is the story behind the pictures. That's what differentiates a scrapbook from a photo album," Weigel said.

"The philosophy is to keep the project simple to get it done. Patients who are not interested in scrapbooking can make a card instead."

Weigel is a former consultant for Creative Memories, a company that helps people preserve their family stories in keepsake albums.

"I thought this was an awesome thing for a 10-year-old boy to want to do," Weigel said.

"I think it's great for someone who is 10 and had a bad experience to try to turn it into something positive. When you lose a parent, it's hard no matter what age you are. There is definitely a need to be filled."

Though Forever Memories was created for adults, the staff at Advocate Hope Children's Hospital in Oak Lawn said the scrapbooking kits could be a positive experience for children who are seriously ill.

"The intent is to present this to a child or parent to use therapeutically as they're working through the treatment process," said Amy Carbone, a pediatric oncology social worker at Hope.

"Families could spend up to eight hours a day in the clinic, and this would give them something positive to do. And our kids love to do crafts, so this is something that would be very good for them. It's mentally therapeutic, but fun."

Staff members at MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island recruited Vinny as one of the judges for the hospital's annual pie contest today.

Employees will enter their favorite home-baked pies, and slices will be sold for $1 each after the winning entry is chosen. Proceeds will be used to buy Forever Memories supplies.

For more information about making a donation, call Mary Kobus at (708) 824-4893.

Rena Fulka can be reached at rfulka@southtownstar.com or (708) 802-8829.

Taken From SouthTownStar.com