By Sarah Hall
Editor
When you hear “LOL,” you might not think “Love Our Lives,” but one third-grader at L. Pearl Palmer Elementary is looking to change that.
Noah Pendergast, 9, is working to start the above-named organization, which will collect art supplies for kids undergoing treatment at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital. With the support of his principal, Melissa Pietracola, and his teacher, Amy Klymkow, he has been conducting a drive at Palmer over the last two weeks of January to gather those supplies for sick kids in need of a distraction from the loneliness ad isolation they might be facing.
“When you’re in the hospital you’re lonely and you don’t have a lot of stuff to do,” Noah said. [Coloring can help you] keep yourself entertained.”
Noah is collecting new crayons, markers, coloring books and other art supplies at Palmer through the end of the month, when he and his family will deliver them to Golisano. According to mom Stephanie, he was inspired to help by his late friend, Griffin Engle, who passed away in 2014 from brain cancer. Griffin’s mom, Erin Engle, started a nonprofit in his name, Griffin’s Guardians, which supports families of kids with cancer and works to raise money and awareness for pediatric cancer.
“Griffin was one of my best friends. So when he died it was kind of sad,” Noah said. “So I was thinking maybe I can help kids, not just for kids in the hospital, but maybe all over.”
Stephanie said Noah and Griffin had been friends since they were infants together in the same playgroup. The Pendergasts live in Baldwinsville and the Engles live in Cicero, so the boys grew older and went to different schools, but they remained friends, as did their mothers. Griffin’s passing and Erin’s work with Griffin’s Guardians inspired Noah to take action.
“He’s talked about wanting to do something, and I said, ‘You can make some cards, or donate cards to the hospital,’ you know what I mean, like within our family, I was thinking,” Stephanie said. “But he was like, ‘Well, I want to donate things.”
Noah was particularly motivated by a book drive Palmer students participated in last year for Griffin’s Guardians.
“He wanted to sell whatever he could to raise a ton of money,” Stephanie said.
But it was really Erin Engle’s example he sought to follow.
“He kept saying, ‘I want to do something just like Erin does and have an organization to help all the kids that I can,’” Stephanie said.
Noah approached Pietracola about doing a fundraiser at Palmer — which, incidentally, is where Paige Arnold, for whom Paige’s Butterfly Run is named. Paige was 8 when she passed away in 1994 after a battle with leukemia. Pietracola was happy to grant his request, Stephanie said, once the holidays were over.
“She’s been great,” Stephanie said of the principal. “She’s so willing to help out and spread the word.”
Noah said it has been a bit of a challenge getting people to change their perceptions.
“One kid in my class was like, ‘LOL means laugh out loud, and you can’t change the meaning of that,’” said Noah, 9. “And I was like, maybe it can mean two things. Whenever someone does something funny you can say ‘LOL’ which means laugh out loud, and then whenever someone is talking about the idea I have for this organization they can say ‘LOL’ means Love Our Lives.”
While this year’s drive is only two weeks long, Noah said he’d like to do it again next year. His mother said his future career plans also involve philanthropy.
“He wants to invent things, like a lot of things,” she said. “But he always says, ‘I’m going to use the money I make and give it to, not just Golisano, but to all the hospitals.’ It’s just the way he thinks… As a family, he’s definitely encouraged us. We’re so proud of him.”
Stephanie said Noah’s generosity and vivacity are reminiscent of the boy he’s looking to honor.
“It’s ironic because Griffin had that same kind of energy,” she said. “He was so spirited, and he loved people and people loved him.”
Noah thinks Griffin would be pleased with Love Our Lives.
“I think he would,” he said, “and I think he would like that I did something that would help him.”
