Wednesday, February 11, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
21
School adopts young ‘Sparrow’
By Jodi Schneider mcNamee
Correspondent
Sisters Christian Academy
enthusiastically adopted
2-year-old Mason Fronk as
their “sparrow” during an
assembly on Wednesday,
February 4. The students
were overjoyed and ready
to rally for Mason by doing
community service to raise
funds to help with the child’s
ongoing medical expenses.
Students in Sparrow
Clubs across the region
“adopt” children in medical
crisis and earn donated funds
through community service.
Sisters Christian Academy’s
Sparrow Club is sponsored
by the Weitzman family; for
every service hour logged
by students, the Weitzmans
donate $10.
When Mason Fronk had
a significant pediatric stroke
as an infant, the doctors said
that he would not be able to
talk, walk, crawl or move
the right side of his body.
But after having surgery for
a left hemispherectomy last
June due to severe seizures (a
very rare surgical procedure
where half of the brain is
removed or disabled) sweet-
natured Mason is expected to
crawl, walk, and talk.
In March 2014 Sisters
High School Sparrow Club
adopted Mason as their spar-
row and sold raffle tick-
ets to raise funds for his
family for ongoing medi-
cal expenses. This was
before Mason underwent
the uncommon surgery
to eliminate his chronic
seizures.
Guest speaker Michael
Leeland explained to the
students how he became
the very first sparrow 22
years ago when he was diag-
nosed with leukemia at six
months old. Leeland is now
the regional director for the
Sparrow Club in Central
Oregon, and he goes from
school to school to talk to
students about the extraor-
dinary power they have to
make a difference in another
child’s life.
I know that you’re
ready to fulfill the
community service job
to raise money to help
your sparrow, mason.
— michael Leeland
“I know that you’re ready
to fulfill the community ser-
vice job to raise money to
help your sparrow, Mason.
You will be doing 256 hours
of community service as a
school, and for every hour of
community service that you
do; it will be equal to $10
for your sparrow,” Leeland
said.
Every school receives
community service vouch-
ers to document their ser-
vice hours, and on the back
of the voucher the kids get
to express their thoughts and
feelings about serving the
community for their sparrow.
Leeland introduced
Mason and his mother,
Karissa, to the student body
that was waiting patiently
to see their little sparrow in
Classifieds are online at
NuggetNews.com
person.
“It’s impossible to keep
going without your help. We
don’t know why Mason had
300 seizures an hour, but we
are hoping the doctors from
Seattle Children’s Hospital
will keep looking for an
answer so this won’t happen
to another child,” Fronk said.
Mason is a fighter and
full of drive. He loves his
horse, Sonja, and looks for-
ward to getting his service
dog, Aspen. Mason attends
numerous therapies weekly.
He uses orthotics on his feet
to help him stand and put
weight on his legs. He also
uses a hand splint to keep his
right hand open and relaxed
as it clenches due to cerebral
palsy.
“The weekly therapies are
hard on both of us, but the
one thing Mason does that
helps me get through all this,
he loves to smile,” Fronk
said.
The weekly therapies
are hard on both of us,
but the one thing mason
does that helps me get
through all this,
he loves to smile.
— Karissa Fronk
For more information visit
www.sparrowclubs.org.
photo by Jodi sChneider MCnaMee
The Sisters christian academy Sparrow, two-year-old mason Fronk, and
his mother, Karissa.
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