MHS students create crafts to lift spirits of local community

Matluba Eshonkulova | The Chronicle

Stars have always been beacons of hope and symbols of positivity, happiness and renewal — at Mason High School (MHS), students have started crafting for a cause, bridging creativity and compassion through Stellar Wonderz.

Stellar Wonderz is a nonprofit volunteer organization that creates crafts known as “Wonderz” that revolve around stars. The crafts volunteers create are donated to veterans, pediatric patients, charities and other groups to spread positivity and encourage optimism. 

The Wonderz that volunteers make consist of easy, leisurely crafts like origami stars and bracelets, but also more difficult crafts like crochet stars and heartfelt, handwritten cards. The crafts are then shipped or dropped off at the Stellar Wonderz Post Office Box in Kings Mills, continuing on their journey to someone in need.

As Stellar Wonderz continues to grow, junior co-founder Nive Murthy said that the influence of the crafts on the community serves as a significant motivation for the spread and impact of the organization, amplifying the supportive effects of each craft.

“We frequently make crafts for the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Atrium Health Medical Center and University of Cincinnati Health,” Murthy said. “Just the fact that we can create such a profound impact on people who need it is a huge motivation.”

Stellar Wonderz provides participants with a “volunteer-from-home” option through crafting. Sophomore social media manager Angela Zhang said she considers the opportunity to be great for volunteers and the community receiving the crafts.

“Many people do from-home volunteering because they might not be in a position to go out and volunteer,” Zhang said. “Having a community of volunteers, even if it’s from home, has a significant impact, and just makes the effects of volunteering even better because more people are able to spend time helping others.”

Similar to Zhang, sophomore volunteer Emily Yuan said she believes being able to volunteer from home through Stellar Wonderz increases her influence on the community, allowing her to aid those in need.

“As someone who doesn’t really have a lot of time to volunteer, [before Stellar Wonderz] I couldn’t help make an impact on the community,” Yuan said. “Stellar Wonderz was a good way for me to play my part and help uplift the spirits of anyone who received a craft.” 

The organization’s focus on stars comes from an old Japanese folk tale about a girl named Hoshi who loved stargazing. One night, she saw falling stars and feared they would disappear, so she and the village children folded over 2,000 origami stars to return them to the sky, calling them “lucky stars.” Over time, these origami stars have come to represent the continuous light of stars, often gifted with best wishes and good luck.

Like Hoshi, junior volunteer Vivian Dinh said she believes the meaning behind the stars and the crafts is much deeper than their appearance; it is more about what they represent.

“Each craft is more than just an object,” Dinh said. “The crafts are symbols of hope and a reminder that kindness can be shown to people you don’t even know.”

Every craft is donated with the intention of touching hearts. Similar to Dinh, Murthy also said that love and care can be shown to those one does not personally know.

“We’re sending these crafts out to people who we don’t even know,” Murthy said. “We’re letting them know that we are there for them, that we care about them, and that they should care about themselves too.”

Stellar Wonderz enables volunteers to earn volunteer hours from the crafts they donate. Despite the simple way of building hours, Yuan said she believes it is not about the hours, but the impact. 

“For me, it’s not really about the [volunteer] hours,” Yuan said. “It’s about how I’m using my free time to support others.”

Stellar Wonderz is committed to offering students outlets to support their community by setting up a system for students to start separate “chapters”, similar to clubs, at their school. Zhang said she aims to establish a Stellar Wonderz chapter at MHS, providing opportunities for students to collaborate creatively and unite in building a culture of encouragement.

“I’m hoping to start a chapter here at MHS as an inclusive space for anyone who wants to participate in Stellar Wonderz,” Zhang said. “I think that the effort we all put in, [both] individually and as a team, uplifts us all and those [to whom] we donate.”