Keeping a little girl's dream alive

Bayden Cini seemed absorbed in his orange Popsicle while his mother, Robin Jean Lyon Cini, hung a ribbon on a tree at Fair-Mont-Egan School.

Students had planted the tree in honor of their classmate and Bayden’s big sister, 6-year-old Hanna Cini, who died due to a car accident April 17, 2009.

A couple of months after Hanna’s death, Lyon Cini and Bayden visited the school to tie a butterfly ribbon on the tree. Hanna had loved butterflies.

Bayden took a break from his Popsicle to look up at his mother. “I know why God made Hanna,” he said suddenly.

Lyon Cini froze. “Why?” she asked her 4-year-old son.

“Hanna has to go all the way around the world,” Bayden said confidently, emphasizing the last three words.

It would have been a cryptic comment from a child if not for a dream his sister had when she was 5. After seeing a commercial for poverty-stricken children in other countries, Hanna had dreamed of a way to make those children happy.

In her dream, Hanna and her mother had given art supplies to children in other parts of the world. Lyon Cini still remembers how her daughter had explained it to her: “If kids could draw, they would be happier. They wouldn’t be sad.”

A nonprofit, aptly titled Hanna’s Dream, was born out of that vision. The organization’s goal is to distribute art supplies to children at home and around the world.

Their first donation was in October 2008 to Solevu Village in Fiji. Originally they had planned to donate to children in Kalimpong, India, an area notorious for child slavery in all forms. A friend of Lyon Cini’s, Owen Glenn, has a youth hostel there, and the Cinis were going to make sure the children who stayed in the hostel had art supplies.

Civil unrest in the area prevented them from visiting Kalimpong, but Glenn had a backup plan. He had “adopted” a village in Fiji and was helping put together an event that would offer mammograms for Fijian women, rugby games and, if he could get supplies, art for children.

Hanna’s Dream collected markers, pencils, sketch pads, erasers, crayons and more to send to Fiji. In honor of the donation, Hanna painted a picture that still hangs in her mother’s garage with the words, “To Fiji With Love” painted in blue across the top.

The little girl was thrilled to share art, something she loved, with other children.

“She was excited about that,” Lyon Cini said of Hanna.

It was the only donation Hanna would live to see, but her dream hasn’t died yet. The 501(c)3 organization that began with a little girl’s dream has taken on a life of its own.

In the last year, Hanna’s Dream has given art supplies to a Head Start after-school program in Elmo, to Court Appointed Special Advocates for Kids, to a transitional housing program in Missoula, and to A Window Between Worlds, a program that uses art to help abused women and children heal emotionally.

The nonprofit also has given cash donations to Whitefish Dance & Acrobat Studio (Hanna loved to dance), Immaculate Heart Convent in Spokane and UNICEF for Haiti relief.

This month, Hanna’s Dream plans to donate art supplies to the Abbie Shelter in Kalispell and to Fair-Mont-Egan’s before- and after-school program.

Many donations came in shortly after Hanna died. In the obituary that appeared in the Daily Inter Lake, the family suggested people contribute money or supplies to Hanna’s Dream.

People dropped off supplies at Hanna’s memorial service and at Fair-Mont-Egan School, where the foyer was jam-packed with crayons, markers, paints and other supplies.

Willa Manger, a friend of Lyon Cini and a Hanna’s Dream board member, remembers hauling carloads of art supplies across the valley for days after the service.

Since then, other stories, including articles in Montana Woman and Woman’s World, have helped spread the word even further. Every once in a while, Lyon Cini will get random boxes of art supplies in the mail from people who have happened upon the story of Hanna’s Dream.

It has been a blessing to Lyon Cini, who has found solace in carrying on her daughter’s mission. She attributes the donations the group has made to her daughter.

“It wasn’t me,” she said. “It was all her idea. I’m just doing what I’m told.”

It seems every time there is a lull in pursuing the dream, someone will send another donation, Lyon Cini said.

“That’s the biggest fear: How do you let something like that die?” she said. “I would be ashamed. We haven’t made it all around the world yet.”

On the Web:

www.hannas-dream.org

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.