When Kenisha McKnight and her family came to the shelter, Rose took the sad-eyed little girl under her wing. The McKnights’ story was different from those the staff usually heard. There was no history of drinking or addiction, no spousal abuse—just the slow death of a father who hadn't had health insurance, and a mother who couldn't earn enough to bail the family out after he was gone. Kenisha's two brothers had settled in to their new life at the shelter, but Kenisha sat alone, not speaking. Rose had seen it happen before: one child would take all the clan's defeat and heartbreak on his or her shoulders. Rose was determined to get through to Kenisha.

She finally had success when she gave Kenisha a coloring book and some crayons. The little girl picked the softest of the pastel colors, worked diligently to stay within the lines, and then handed her picture to Rose. Thrilled by her success, Rose said it was the best present she'd ever been given, and then in a moment of pure inspiration added that she was going to take it home and put it right in the middle of her refrigerator. Kenisha's sad eyes lit up. She turned out a second picture, which was lovingly taped on Rose's refrigerator, and Rose took a photo of it to give to Kenisha, who now was eating with the rest of the kids at mealtime. Soon other kids at the shelter wanted their pictures on the director's refrigerator, and thus Project Fridge was born. All of it made Rose very happy. For days she smiled the radiant smile her daughter loved. Carrie decided to put that smile on her mother's face herself. She too would make artwork for the refrigerator. But hers would not be some dumb little picture that was so pale you could barely see it. She was going to make a masterpiece.

Creativity was encouraged in Carrie's public school; there were three deep drawers full of art supplies in her first-grade classroom. Even so, Carrie's teacher, Ms. Margulies, was a little dubious about the size of the project Carrie was proposing and tried to persuade her to scale it down. Carrie refused.

“It's for my mommy,” she explained.

Ms. Margulies agreed that in that case it had to be special, and wasn't Carrie's mother a lucky lady to be getting such a magnificent present? Carrie nodded proudly.