Irving Elementary students, Oregon football players help child with neuromuscular disease

A Eugene-area toddler with a rare neuromuscular disease received a happy bit of help this week when a group of University of Oregon football players joined students from Irving Elementary School to help raise money for his family.

Theo has SMA, a neuromuscular disease that makes the muscles in his spine weak due to the loss of nerve cells. Theo’s SMA is the most severe type, with most children not living to see their second birthday.

Despite all this, Theo fought through, and after spending two months in the pediatric intensive care unit, he learned to walk, talk eat and sit.

Sparrow Club “adopted” Theo as part of the Sparrow Club, a Washington non-profit that “adopts” children with a life-threatening disease and raises money for them through community service at a school.

The non-profit matched Theo with Irving Elementary School, where students got to know Theo in assemblies throughout the year. This led to the Irving Day of Service, where 275 students pulled weeds, planted flowers, spread bark dust and painted rocks to beautify the garden.

Sparrow Club donated $10 to Theo’s family for every hour of community service done, raising a total of $2,750.

The Day of Service had help from Papa’s Murphy Pizza, the University of Oregon football team, CUPZ Coffee, Lane Forest Products and many mothers.

One of Irving Elementary School's PTO members is a part of the Rotary Club of Eugene, and the Sparrow Club approached her asking to expand into the Willamette Valley. When Principal Carmen Adler was approached with this, Adler instantly agreed saying, “Yes, let’s do it, service for kids is one of the most important things we can teach.”

In April, Adler gave a speech at a Sparrow Club fundraising luncheon, where Karl Holmes, the director of player engagement for the University of Oregon football team, heard Adler’s talk.

“It blew me away… we would love to be a part of the day of service,” Holmes said.

From 9 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, students at Irving took turns working in the garden, removing weeds, planting flowers and spreading bark dust at the school. Fifteen University of Oregon football players helped with the wheelbarrows and shoveling mulch from piles supplied by Lane Forest Products.

Other community members also volunteered their time, including Rodger Deevers, a financial advisor and arts advocate. Deevers volunteered his time to repaint a playground map of the U.S., saying he knows the power of art because it has helped him through difficult parts of his life.

Sparrow Club has “adopted” 34 kids into the program this year, with eight of them in the Willamette Valley. The Sparrow Club’s primary mission is to spread compassion through action, a saying printed on every t-shirt worn by the students.

The power of compassion through action is something Sparrow Club area director Julie Burket said she believes to be crucial for everyone who participates.

“The hope would be that this would be a long-standing tradition here at Irving and that there would be a new sparrow every year,” Burket said, “What really happens is it becomes predictable; the kids know what’s coming and they’re excited to meet their new sparrow.”

Burket and Adler said they were excited for the future of the Sparrow program at Irving Elementary School and they both believe that this first year was a success.

Josiah Pensado is a multimedia reporter for The Register-Guard through the Charles Snowden Program for Excellence in Journalism. You can contact him at jpensado@gannett.com and follow him on Instagram @jpa.photos

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon football, Irving Elementary, Sparrow Club combine for fundraiser