STM had an AMAZING day at the Black Vegetarian Society of Maryland#KeepItFreshFest and The African Griot Book Fair at Druid Hill Park on June 15, 2019. We had fun sharing our mission, making monster stuffies, giving out free books, and vending Hawaiian shave ice in such a lovely setting with so many wonderful families! The afternoon was filled with live music, stories, reenactments, food and craft vendors, and dancing! Our thanks to Gillette Dickens and Naijha Wright-Brown for organizing a great event and to STMers Sam, Lana, Mariya, and Catalina for coming out to serve the community!

Thanks to all the wonderful individuals who donated new and used books for our literacy program and hotel toiletries for our crafting for charity program in the past few weeks! Thank you Christine Hafer, Mary Breeding, Helen Winder, and HS student Divya. We appreciate your kindness and support!

STM had a fantastic time serving up Hawaiian shave ice to the families at The Children’s Inn at NIH’s luau on June 6, 2019. They were joined by many other wonderful organizations including Halau Ho’omau I ka Wai Ola O Hawai’i, Nā Kawika, Sugar & Ice, and Soundwaves DJs along with the wonderful Children’s Inn staff and the NIH Teen Ambassadors that hosted crafting tables for lei making, slime, and sand in a bottle. It was a wonderful night full of dance, song, and laughter. Hana ho!

STM made bottle opener key rings using our brand new 2.25″ American Button Machines to celebrate the wonderful year that Lana’s team at Montgomery Blair High School Team 449: The Blair Robot Project has had. Kudos and thanks to the team, sponsor John Davis, and all the volunteer parents that made it possible! We’re looking forward to another exciting season next year.

STM had a great time reading books and making bookmarks with the students during the Takoma Park Elementary PTA meeting on June 4, 2019. To celebrate our last visit for the year we had a Hawaiian Shave Ice party. Thanks TPES for a great year of reading books aloud and doing literacy based crafts with us. Our thanks also to the TPES PTA for their kind donation to our literacy program.

STM had a marvelous time painting over 200 strawberry rocks with the families at Sandy Spring Museum Strawberry Festival on Saturday, June 1, 2019. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to paint a rock and learn more about our literacy program and our crafting for charity Bday parties. We enjoyed meeting all the wonderful vendors and exhibits (from tarantulas to strawberry shortcake), live music, rock climbing, plants, and more. The festival continues today from 11am-4pm so go out and grab some fun! #ssmstrawberryfestival #kindness

We had a great time at our first school-wide distribution of books at Takoma Park Elementary School (grades Kindergarten-2nd) on May 31, 2019. The students enjoyed picking out two books and a handmade bookmark to take home. Our thanks to Principal Zadia Gadsden for allowing us to come and Reading Specialist Gina Woods and Administrative Assistant Joy Paz who coordinated the distribution, teachers who brought the students to visit us, our volunteers who made the wonderful bookmarks, and our partners at Books by the Foot. We’re can’t wait to visit you again next year! #books #reading #kindness

Our thanks to Montgomery College Renaissance Scholars/Danny Rivas for hosting a book drive for us! We were thrilled with the wonderful assortment of books and can’t wait to share them with the kids. Thank you for taking the time to organize this great drive for our literacy program! We can’t wait to work with you in the future.

Our thanks to Cabin John Middle School for their generous donation of new and used books and bookmarks for our Books for Bedtime literacy program. We are thrilled by the wide range of books from preK to teen and the lovely handmade bookmarks! Thank you Addi Davis and Melissa Keller for organizing this amazing book drive for us. We are looking forward to working with you again next year! Have a great summer! #kindness

Our deepest thanks to the very generous Ilse Daehler of ISoTotes https://www.etsy.com/shop/ISewTotes who donated half of the proceeds from her recent quilt sale to support our organization. Ilse finished this Hawaiian quilt below for a customer, a quilt that his now deceased wife had not been able to finish and that he wanted to give to his children. He graciously paid Ilse handsomely for her work knowing that she would be donating half of the proceeds to STM.

I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing the finished quilt, but I’m sure it must be even more breathtaking now that all the handstitching is completed. A Hawaiian quilt is composed of thousands of tiny stitches that come together to create a work of art, a fitting metaphor for our belief that small things matter and can lead to a big positive result. STM will be using her wonderful donation to do many small things to serve those in need. Thank you Ilse for your kindness and support!!!!