Vicky Rodemeyer is on a quest. She wants to teach children to be charitable and compassionate, even if it’s just a few at a time. The Iowa native who moved to Memphis 23 years ago found her calling when she awoke in the night with the idea for Picture Perfect Pony Express, a project she began in 2006. The get-well art card program she literally dreamed up brings delight to the hearts of Le Bonheur’s young patients, and provides an inspirational opportunity for teaching kindheartedness to Shelby County school students.

Every two weeks Vicky provides art supplies to 14 county school art classes. In return, students are asked to design get-well art cards for patients at Le Bonheur. When Vicky picks up the students’ artwork, she replaces the art supplies in return for more cards. Amanda Galbraith, art lead teacher for Shelby County Schools, helps to coordinate the project.

The students create 300 cards each month for the project which Vicky delivers twice a month to Le Bonheur. Her husband, Ron, handcrafted a wooden Pony Express Cargo box which Vicky has lovingly decorated for the deliveries.

“Miss Vicky”, as the kids call her, knows what it means to receive handmade cards of appreciation. During the 17 years she worked for and with the Shelby County Schools, she was on the receiving end of many such gifts from students. She also learned to appreciate such sentiments from her grandmother, who saved every letter Vicky ever wrote to her and stored them in a special box.

Most likely, it was the cards Vicky received when she was diagnosed at the age of 20 with Guillain-Barre syndrome that heightened her appreciation for them. This rare neurological disorder attacks the body’s immune system and part of the peripheral nervous system, causing paralysis and even death.

Doctors told her she might never walk again or regain her full ability to speak. At that time, she had just married and moved to Texas with her husband. Her family was 1,000 miles away, making her diagnosis especially hard to bear. “I really know what it’s like to be sick andhow important it is to receive encouragement,” Vicky said. “When you are disabled it’s a battle of the mind. You get lonely and you feel bad. When you receive correspondence from others and know someone is rooting for you, it’s an encouragement to rise above it.”

Fully recuperated today, Vicky wanted to give back the love and support she had received so many years ago. A chance meeting with her neighbor, Pete Caldwell, who is a Le Bonheur volunteer, led her to tour the hospital. That one visit was enough to get her involved.

It takes lots of colored paper, glue sticks, glitter, colored markers and pens and pencils, stickers and scissors to keep the cards coming to Le Bonheur, but Vicky never accepts money for this. She asks only for donations of art supplies, and this school year eight area Kroger and Walgreens stores are supporting her effort. What isn’t donated is funded from her own pocket.

Vicky spends two days or more each week cutting out animal pictures, sentiments and funny sayings from magazines and old greeting cards donated by friends to give the students ideas. “I want the students to create the kind of art card they would like to receive if they were in the hospital,” she explained.

Students do not sign their names to the cards, only the name of the school. Before delivering them to Le Bonheur, Vicky reads every card to make sure it is appropriate for a child in the hospital.

“The world is becoming so impersonal,” Vicky said. “Children have become too familiar with receiving and must understand that it’s in giving they will find satisfaction and purpose. An uplifting card can encourage and bring hope to many unfortunate children, especially if it is handmade and created from the heart of another child. Projects like this teach our children to become excellent community servants.”