A Thing of the Heart: Two-Fold Outreach to Children and Award Presentation Brings Hike Kidz to Stone Branch Arts Center

Behind every heart on display at the Stone Branch Arts Center is the concealed identity of the child in need who painted it. “I don’t know who they are,” declared Michael Williams, “and I don’t want to know who they are,” he added, out of respect for the children’s privacy. Williams officiated at an October 9 event organized by the Hike Kidz Foundation and hosted by the arts center, where a permanent display of hearts focuses community attention on children who may be struggling with insecurities related to housing, clothing, and food. By selecting a heart, the donor agrees to make a year’s contribution of $600 to that anonymous child.

Jean Plauger (L) and Aaron Hike (R) unveil a new heart collection. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh

In keeping with the rights of children under the 1987 McKinney-Vento Act, a liaison with the schools works with Hike Kidz, where Williams is the chair of the John Marlow Love Wins Legacy Award, given regularly to servant-hearted people in the community who have exemplified every part of the Love Wins mission: to bring hope to children who may otherwise be forgotten, assuring them that they are loved and that the world is truly a place of possibility, not despair. The namesake only emphasizes the Hike Kidz mission, since one of Front Royal’s former mayors, John Marlow, now departed, was passionate about many things, not least of all children.

Chair of the John Marlow Love Wins Legacy Award for Hike Kidz Foundation, Michael Williams stands next to a permanent display of hearts painted by children in need.

The award went to Jean Plauger, a force in the community whom Councilman Glenn Wood, in an aside to the Royal Examiner, acknowledged as the perfect person for the award. Plauger stood with Joyce Marlow and Joyce’s daughter Jeania Aylor, setting the scene for what continues to be a community theme: missing John. He is a very hard person to say goodbye to. His presence is felt by every person who continues to ask his famous question: “Is it good for Front Royal?” Present at the event was Mayor Lori Cockrell, who shared with the Examiner her high opinion of the Hold My Heart program, through which Hike Kidz facilitates the child’s painting of two hearts, one for the donor to take home and the other for continued display.

Having received the John Marlow Love Wins Legacy Award for service to children in the community, Jean Plauger expresses her gratitude, standing by Joyce Marlow (middle) and Joyce’s daughter, Jeania Aylor, on the far right.

Harmony Hike (L) stands with Mayor Lori Cockrell.