At first glance, Rielly Rudolph may appear to be your typical ten-year- old who loves to go to school, learn, run, jump and play with her classmates at University Prep Science and Math Elementary (Miller School Campus). However, if you look at little deeper you will see a child who enjoys being artistic and especially around Halloween time.
Rielly loves to paint and decorate pumpkins and six years ago, she asked her parents a question that would forever impact their lives. In September 2011, Rielly asked her father, “what do kids in hospitals do to celebrate Halloween?” Rielly’s father, David Rudolph, a public relations consultant in Detroit, told her it was unlikely sick children had a chance to trick-or-treat or dress up – considering they were in a hospital to get well.
It was at that moment Rielly came up with a noble idea, she replied to her father, “I think sick kids should have a pumpkin at Halloween time and I’ll paint them.”
Rielly’s parents always stressed the importance of benevolence, an appreciation for your blessings, strong dedication to community volunteerism, board service and the fundamentals of servant-leadership to help others less fortunate.
“When I realized Rielly was serious in wanting to help brighten the spirits of sick children hospitalized during Halloween, I had to do something,” said her Rudolph. “She was showing a high degree of compassion and thoughtfulness I never expected from a child so young. In order to satisfy Rielly’s and my own curiosity, I contacted the Detroit Medical Center’s Children’s Hospital of Michigan, and ask them directly, what do sick children do around Halloween time? The answer was nothing,” Rudolph added.
For Rielly’s parents, seemingly there was no time like the present to help her achieve her wish to express her creativity through painting pumpkins and spreading some joy to sick children on Halloween.
Following Rielly’s creative lead, her parents developed a service project called, “Rielly’s No-Carve Pumpkin Creations” and offered to donate painted pumpkins (by Rielly) to DMC’s Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation.
The offer was accepted and Rielly through the cooperative support of her then classmates at St. Sebastian Catholic School, delivered 150-painted no-carve pumpkins offering a bit of joy to hospitalized sick children during Halloween time.
What made this little girl’s story and project so special is how a then five-year-old was so thoughtful to share her joy and make others happy. It’s about how a school and the community it serves encourages, supports and teaches students to be outstanding scholars but also having a strong character dedicated to giving back.
“Since 2011, Rielly and her classmates have helped paint or decorate more than 500 pumpkins that have been donated to DMC’s Children’s Hospital of Michigan. In addition, Rielly has been awarded the Spirit of Detroit Award (the youngest resident in the City of Detroit to received the award) for her contributions to the community,” said Rielly’s mother, Contessa Rudolph.
“With the demands of fifth grade, soccer practice and swim activities, Rielly is looking forward to balancing her time so she can create her one-of-a-kind hand-painted no-carve pumpkins. Although Rielly does not get chance to present the pumpkins to sick kids, the joy for her is knowing the pumpkins make their way to the hospital’s healing garden, where patients and their families can visit and enjoy them,” Contessa added.
This year Rielly’s No-Carve Pumpkin Creations have added a few new elements and collaborations to the project. Painting with a Twist Detroit has graciously offered the services of its artist-staff members to participate in painting pumpkins with Rielly.
Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation asked Rielly to set aside a collection of unpainted pumpkins that could be packaged as a kit – with stickers for the kids in the hospital to decorate themselves on Halloween. “We asked a few choice artists from Detroit such as Desiree Kelly (our newest client at D. Ericson & Associates Public Relations whom Ellen asked to paint the gymnasium mural inside Spain Elementary School) to submit a cool decorated pumpkin to the project.
Finally, through our experience with Children’s Hospital we noticed every patient gets a simple toiletry package – toothbrush, toothpaste and a small-toothed comb. The comb is more suited for thin hair but does not work well for African Americans and kids of color with thick or curly hair. So as a family contribution, we are donating combs and brushes to Children’s Hospital because as a parent we understand pride in ones appearance does not end when you are sick,” David added.
Too often in Detroit the talk is about how the education system is failing our children; too often the talk is about violence, and bullying in our schools; too often we question or ignore our children’s passions and capacity for learning and caring. This is one of those situations that highlights what a child can offer if we all just take the time to listen, encourage and support. It’s about one kid inspiring adults and getting others to act for the common good – isn’t that what good, thoughtful and transformative leadership is all about?
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