INDIAN TRAIL, N.C. — In one of the classrooms at the Big Blue Marble Academy in Indian Trail, four children sit around a desk drawing hearts.
What looks like your usual kids' activity is anything but that. They represent children whose lives have been turned upside down by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"There are those less fortunate than you are," one of the teachers told the class as they drew on eggs using yellow and blue chalk.
Mary McAlhaney, one of Big Blue Marble Academy's directors said the objective is to get children thinking and learning about others their age in Ukraine. It's part of BBMA's global education program.
"This is what we do," McAlhaney said. "We're training little minds and building big hearts. That's a tradition with our Ukrainian children, just to kind of bring it home for them."
McAlhaney has been at the center for 27 years. For the last several years, it's been part of the Blue Blue Marble Academy Corporation, a national child care provider with dozens of centers, including several in the Charlotte area.
As they have for a while, children will spend part of their day with activities, like hearing stories about Ukraine, as well as hands-on projects like making hearts of clay using the colors of the Ukrainian flag and designing eggs like children there do.
The center is also doing everything it can to support innocent people affected by the conflict. Nan Rikard, the founder of Big Blue Marble Academy, has a deep, personal connection to helping the Children's Charity Center in Ukraine because of the adoption of her daughter. Rikard has used her three decades in early child care to share that passion.
In just 10 days, the centers raised over $40,000 for Ukrainian families seeking refuge.
"It absolutely rips my heart, because they're children," McAlhaney said. "They're displaced children already because they're in an orphanage."
For over a decade, Big Blue Marble Academy has held the Give From the Heart fundraiser, which raises money for the Children Charity Center of Ukraine, which benefits orphanages in the country. The fundraiser's projects included selling cookie dough and making no-sew blankets that were sent to children in Ukraine.
"Those children are wrapped up in our blankets, they're giving comfort, warmth, and I love that our children get to be a beacon of hope," McAlhaney said.
It's just the first step in molding young minds to think about others less fortunate.
"When our children leave this community at Big Blue Marble, they can go out and be world changers," McAlhaney said.
Contact Richard DeVayne at rdevayne@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.