In anticipation of making dolls for Service Learning Day, Debbie Shriver, a former Hartsbrook parent and member of the Valley Syrian Relief Committee, met with a group of high school students to help them learn about the displacement of Syrian families from their homes within Syria. She spoke about the history of the region and the Syrian war and the need to spark hope among those families, who have suffered so much. She spoke of her group’s mission to hand-deliver soft pocket dolls to children affected by displacement as a way to provide comfort and assure them of our interest in their plight. The students then worked with Anna Logowitz and spent a morning making an array of dolls to delight children. Here are some reflections: On Service Learning Day we made cloth dolls for the children of Syria. The government is unfair and a dictatorship, so the people protested. The authorities carpet-bombed their own people’s homes, schools, and hospitals. The government is telling the Syrian citizens that no one from other countries care about them, and they have been forgotten. We made the dolls to show our support to the people of the war-devastated country. We created dolls to comfort the children. ~Laila, Meadow Rain, Haley This activity was fun and interesting. Helping the children who are displaced in Syria was a big job because people are dying and losing their homes. This was a great opportunity for me to learn and help these children who are going through a very tough and dramatic situation. To just think about giving hand-made dolls to children who are in Syria and have nothing is such a big idea and such a nice gift for the kids to show them we care and we want to help. ~Hannah