By Michelle Waltos
Librarian
Dangling delicately from the atrium ceiling, a mobile of 1,000 folded paper cranes gently sways as a gust of wind enters through the door.
The mobile, which is on exhibit at the Northern Onondaga Public Library (NOPL) at Cicero, was donated to the Central Library in Syracuse by the National Crane Project. The National Crane Project was inspired by David Heard, an 11-year-old boy from Easton, Pennsylvania, who passed away in 2011 from neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer.
In Japanese lore, cranes live 1,000 years and are viewed as symbols of health, long life and prosperity. It was David’s wish to place mobiles of 1,000 origami cranes in pediatric centers around the country.
David’s parents, Tom and Susan, partnering with Lafayette College theater professor Mary Jo Lodge, established the National Crane Project. Together with volunteers from across the country and around the world, they create mobiles for hospitals, schools, libraries and nursing homes to inspire hope.
Susan Heard travels to Syracuse every year to attend the annual St. Baldrick’s fundraiser at Kitty Hoynes’s Irish Pub and Restaurant. St. Baldrick’s is an organization that funds research into pediatric cancer at the local level. In 2017, more than $520,000 was raised in Syracuse, making us the number one fundraising site in the country!
NOPL at Cicero is honored to have the mobile on exhibit through the end of September, spreading joy, inspiring hope and raising awareness about pediatric cancer.
