Heather Ochalski organized a diverse group of children to contribute to their community through fundraising, community clean up and a talent show.

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Vol. 40 No. 1
ANAR
Blackburn Area News And Reports
September 2006
Blackburn Kids Helping the World (BKHtW)
T
here was music, dancing
and laughter as a group of
local young people who
call themselves Blackburn Kids
Helping the World (BKHtW)
entertained around thirty enthusi-
astic residents of the Amica at
Bearbrook Court seniors’ resi-
dence on Sunday, August 20th.
Organised by Heather Ochalski, the
group, whose goal is to contribute
to their community during their
Back row: Kion Hatam, Parisa Yazdani, and Marky Snidal.
summer vacations, began with a Front row: Matthew Ochalski, Shayan Hatam, Christopher Ochalski, Jenna Matchem, and Ki
Benson.
brainstorming session in mid-June,
during which they chose three proj- Matthew Ochalski, 6, kicked off the spirited breakdance. Ki Benson put
ects and the group’s name.The first show with some ‘Knock-knock” down the emcee’s microphone to
project was a clean-up of the area jokes and a piano piece. His older demonstrate her grace and power
around the skateboard park behind brother, Christopher, followed, his during a Taekwondo exhibition.
the arena, which yielded five fingers flying over the keyboard The last performance was a Sonati-
garbage bags of refuse and an old during a flamenco-flavoured piece na in C major, played with maturity
shopping cart. and a jazzier tune. The emcees, Ki by Marky Snidal. Following the
For their last project, the BKHtW Benson and Kion Hatam, smoothly performances, the young perform-
will raise money for a charity with a eased the audience into the next act, ers shared refreshments with the
lemonade-and-baked-treats stand an energetic pop-jazz dance num- more mature audience and basked
at the Hornets Nest Park on Sep- ber by Parisa Yazdani and Jenna in the appreciation of their talents.
tember 9th. Matchem.
The second project, the talent show, Kion relinquished his emcee duties P.S. Drop in at the Lemonade
was an eclectic mix of entertain- to play “The Malaguena”, followed & Baked Treats Stand
ment by this culturally diverse by his own arrangement of a haunt- at the Hornets Nest Park on
group of young people. The ing Persian tune. Next, Shayan Saturday, September 9th.
youngest member of the group, Hatam revved up the crowd with a