Editor’s Note: This story by Eddie Robertson was originally posted by WDAM and can be viewed here.
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) – An emotional social media post inspired the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the University of Southern Mississippi [Mississippi Sigma] to give a few kids an opportunity to learn while having fun.
In that social media post, a mother said when her little boy is having a bad day, it’s always made better by seeing the pair of lion statues on the front lawn of the SAE fraternity house, which sits across the street from The Children’s Center for Communication and Development on the Southern Miss campus.
This prompted the fraternity to invite him, along with several others from The Children’s Center, to help paint the iconic pair of lions Thursday.
The director of The Children’s Center, Sarah Myers, says this was a perfect opportunity for the children.
“They learn well through tactile experiences,” Myers said. “So they like to use their hands and get in and learn through doing, and so they may not realize it, but it’s actually a therapy activity for them to paint and talk about all the parts of a lion and take turns with their friends and meet new people, and all of that is therapy.”
“It was really fun for us and it was wonderful that our friends at SAE invited us over to participate,” Myers added.
As for the little boy, he was made an honorary member of the SAE fraternity for the day and most likely a lion-lover for life.
