KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Monday, March 7, the Parade of Hearts will reveal where it will place all 154 oversized hearts in the new initiative.

In the meantime, students at St. Elizabeth Catholic School in Kansas City, Missouri, have started their own parade of hearts.

“The main theme is to have all the students feel like they’re one community, they’re one, they’re together, they’re whole,” explained Alex McBride, a seventh-grade student and secretary of the school’s student council.

Each classroom in the pre-k through eighth grade school will decorate a roughly 2-by-2 feet heart and place it in the hallway. Hearts are decorated to promote kindness, inclusion, and belonging.

Second grade student Simon Underwood said he learned those lessons in pre-k when he first met Leo, who is now his best friend. Leo has autism and Down’s syndrome, yet Underwood said the two boys have a lot in common, like a love of reading.

“Everybody wants to be kind and everybody, of course, wants to make some friends, so I did those things with Leo,” Underwood said.

He hopes his classroom’s heart encourages other students in the school to embrace those lessons.

While St. Elizabeth’s parade of hearts is inspired by the upcoming, city-wide Parade of Hearts, the school project is unaffiliated with the official event whose mission is to unite the region with public art.

The official Parade of Hearts will auction off all 154 giant hearts in June to raise money for local charities negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

​From KSHB and Charlie Keegan
​Posted at 9:10 AM, Mar 04, 2022 and last updated 9:10 AM, Mar 04, 2022

Almost a quarter of a century ago, six families found they shared the same dream — that their children with special needs could attend their parish grade school with their siblings and friends. Through hard work and advocacy, the Foundation for Inclusive Religious Education (F.I.R.E.) was established and in 1996, three children with special needs were enrolled at Visitation and St. Peter’s schools. They were followed by other children and other schools became partners with the foundation, which raised money to help with salaries for para-professionals and special education teachers to support and instruct students with special needs, purchase equipment and technology to empower and aid students in learning and offer professional development and training to educators enabling them to address their students’ unique needs and help them succeed.
Today, 12 Catholic grade schools, St. Elizabeth; St. Peter’s; St. Therese; St. Regis Academy; St. Patrick; Visitation, Our Lady of Hope; Holy Cross; Nativity of Mary; Our Lady of the Presentation; St. Thomas More; Borromeo Academy and two high schools, St. Pius X and St. Michael the Archangel, partner with FIRE Foundation, which continues to raise funds to continue helping schools create environments of learning where students with special needs learn and thrive alongside their typically developing peers.*

*Excerpt from Catholic Key by Marty Denzer

St. Elizabeth School is celebrating 25 Days of F.I.R.E. to recognize and appreciate all our differences and to encourage empathy and acceptance.

Each day brings a different experience.
Day 1: Donuts and Juice (donations to F.I.R.E. Foundation - Penny Wars Begins
Day 2: Fuel the FIRE with Art
Day 3: F.I.R.E. Film Day
Day 4: Family F.I.R.E. Awareness
Day 5: Follow in God's Footsteps: Acts of Kindness
Day 6: Lighting the Way
Day 7: Inside Out Day
Day 8: Spread the FIRE with a SMILE!
Penny Wars Ends
Day 9: Thankful Thursday
Day 10: Fair isn't Always Equal
Day 11: Family Fun Inclusion!
Day 12: A Dozen Days of FIRE
Day 13: Stars: They're Just Like Us
Day 14: Walk in Someone Else's Shoes
Day 15: Teacher and Staff Appreciation
Day 16: Simulation Day
Day 17: Friday FIRE Shirt Day or RED Shirt
Day 18: Celebrate Your Gifts
Day 19: FIRE Celebration at Mass
Day 20: Strengths and Weaknesses
Raffle Ends
Day 21: Bookmark Activity
Day 22: Keep the Flame Ignited: Do the Right Thing Day!
Day 23: Thankful Thursday: Popcicles
Day 24: Friday FIRE Shirt Day or RED Shirt
​Day 25: FIRE Ball!

​Thank you to our St. Elizabeth Community in supporting inclusive education and helping keep the FIREBall Cup!

Congratulations to the reigning champs, St Elizabeth, for coming in as the Big Cheese in 1st place! Making the biggest jump and selling over 1000 more tickets than last year, are the 2nd place Hotsy Totsy winners at St Therese! The difference between these 2 schools was only 13 tickets! Also Putting on the Ritz and making a swanky run over last year are the 3rd place winners at St Peters! Our Lady of Presentation are the Bee's Knees, coming in at 4th place! St Michael the Archangel is the Cat's Meow coming in at 5th place!

Funds raised in the FIREBall Raffle Cup Contest, along with the FIREBall Auction event on Saturday, October 10, support FIRE Foundation's mission of inclusive education and allow us to offer a place for all learners in our community. We all care so much for each other and it shows! 

We had some special, socially distant, visitors yesterday from our friends at the FIRE Foundation. Thank you for stopping by. The work you do is such a blessing to our entire school community!
Since we couldn’t gather at our annual Back-to-School meeting this year the @firefoundationkc staff visited each school this morning to drop off goodies and the first (of 3) grant checks for each schools’ Inclusion Program! School may look A LOT different this year but we are so proud to partner with each of these schools as they stay firm in their commitment to open their doors (and Zooms) to ALL LEARNERS! 

St. Elizabeth students received assistive technology through a FIRE educational grant.
​
Congratulations to Claire, Class of 2023!  Claire is the recipient of a technology grant from FIRE and received an e-reader pen.  Looks like she's already using it with a good novel!

​Congratulations to Jacob, Class of 2023! Jacob is the recipient of a technology grant from FIRE and received a Chromebook. He is very happy and uses his device for all his learning!

​Thank you, Nina Troester, for your 7+ years as our amazing FIRE Foundation Liaison at STE! What a blessing you have been to our school and our kids.

Nina Troester won the 2020 FIRE Volunteer of the Year Flame Award for her years of service to the FIRE Foundation!

Congratulations Nina, and thank you for all you do for FIRE and our St. Elizabeth School!! We are so proud!! We have some of the most dedicated volunteers in the world and STE is so blessed.