Patients Brittany Brooks and her newborn son Dolce Brooks enjoy one of the Valentine’s Day themed placemats which was decorated by Ashley Spiller, 9, a student at James Foster Elementary School, and daughter of Angela Spiller (at left), an OB tech at Henry Mayo.

A special Valentine’s Day project provided an opportunity for elementary school students in Santa Clarita to show their love to patients at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital.

More than 600 students at James Foster Elementary School in Saugus decorated placemats for Henry Mayo patient trays to be used on Valentine’s Day meals at the hospital.

Sara Weiand, director of Food and Nutrition at Henry Mayo, helped coordinate the effort and provided the blank placemats, which were decorated by the students and placed on food trays for all patients in the hospital.

“We love it when the community reaches out to touch the lives of those who are in the hospital,” Weiand said. “This really does mean so much to the patients.”

The James Foster Student Council, under the supervision of student council advisors, 4th grade teacher Christine Ivey and 2nd grade teacher Kim Nissen, led the student body in decorating the Valentine theme placemats for patient food trays.

“We were so excited to bring this service opportunity to our school,” Ivey said. “The kids know what it’s like to not feel good, so when we said they would have the chance to help brighten the day of patients in the hospital, they were so excited.”

Principal Gina Nolte is proud of the opportunity the school has to give back to the community. The school has participated in several community outreach projects over the years.

“Character is very important to us at Foster and we try to instill in our students social responsibility and an awareness of those around them,” Nolte said.

Courtney Dinius, volunteer services coordinator at Henry Mayo noted that the patients truly enjoyed the extra thought on Valentine’s Day.

“It’s wonderful to start children with a culture of giving to others,” Dinius said. “A great experience all around.”

For more information, visit www.henrymayo.com.

ABOUT HENRY MAYO

Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital is a 238- bed not-for-profit acute care hospital serving the Santa Clarita Valley since 1975. Services include trauma, emergency, intensive care, neonatal intensive care unit, maternity, surgery, nursing, wound care, behavioral health, and acute rehab, as well as cancer, cardiology, imaging, lab, digestive, respiratory services and physical and occupational therapies. Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital is located at 23845 McBean Parkway, Valencia, CA 91355-2083. For more information, visit www.henrymayo.com or call (661) 253-8000.