Noah Freeman, Congregation B’nai Amoona 

The Freeman family believes in repurposing as much as possible.When they realized they had outgrown most of the arts and crafts supplies in their home, they assumed other families had done so as well. 

Noah, son of Leslie and Gary Freeman of Chesterfield, collected gently used arts and crafts supplies for the children of the Kathy J. Weinman Women’s Shelter for victims of domestic violence. It is the only domestic violence shelter in St. Louis County. Its mission is to offer safe shelter and support services to promote the healing of women and their children suffering the trauma of intimate-partner violence.

Via multiple Facebook postings, Noah was able to reach out to family and friends. He even received a donation from an old family friend in Philadelphia who is an artist. She was so moved by this project that she shipped a box of brand new sketchpads to Noah. Many donations came from friends whose kids were long since grown and the parents were thrilled with the opportunity to clean out their closets and basements. 

“It felt so right to put these things to good use rather than throw them away,” Leslie Freeman said.

When the director of volunteer services from the shelter picked everything up, Noah helped load her car. 

“That felt really good,” he said. “I’d like to do that again.”

The students from the Kathy J. Weinman shelter were very appreciative of the supplies. They were used in support groups and in therapeutic activities. 

Noah, a student at Crestview Middle School, also volunteered for Diana’s Grove Dog Rescue located in Cabool, Mo. The shelter’s adoption events are held at PetSmart in Chesterfield Valley every weekend. The Freeman family adopted their dog from them two years ago, and Noah wanted to give back. 

For several weekends, he helped unload the dogs from the truck when it arrived, walked them and helped the dogs get settled in their crates at the beginning of the adoption event. Noah really enjoyed playing with the dogs and just giving them some love.