ITHACA, N.Y. -- On National Philanthropy Day, Friday, Nov. 14, 50 Cornell University students will fan out over Tompkins County to plant the seeds of philanthropy among 3- and

4-year-olds at local Head Start programs. The university students will be reading to the young students and conducting activities related to a children's book about sharing, caring and giving.

Employing a teaching curriculum developed by Cornell senior Melissa Karp of Oceanside, N.Y., the students will use the book Rainbow Fish , by Marcus Pfister, to impart their lessons in nine Head Start classrooms in Dryden, Groton, Lansing, Trumansburg, McLean and the city of Ithaca.

"I am hoping that, through this lesson plan, kids will understand the importance of sharing and caring about others," says Karp, a policy analysis and management major who has served as a volunteer intern in marketing and event planning at the United Way of Tompkins County for more than a year.

After reading the book aloud and discussing its themes, the children will decorate a paper fish with crepe paper. The groups then will discuss giving the fish to a friend or donating it to a local senior care home. The Cornell students will collect the fish to be donated and will conclude the program by giving each preschooler a copy of the book to share with friends or family.

"We hope that by teaching kids to have compassion for others at such an early age, philanthropy will naturally become a part of their everyday lives," says Karp. "Even if it is just one child sharing a crayon with another while they are coloring together, the lesson will have worked. We hope that they will continue to keep these values as they get older."

The Philanthropy Day project is the brainchild of LeNorman Strong, assistant vice president for student and academic services at Cornell, chair of Youth and Philanthropy for the United Way of Tompkins County's board of directors and a former chair of the Cornell United Way Campaign. "Cornell's public service activities are founded upon the principle of engagement of Cornellians with community members in ways that promote learning, offer hope and that invest university resources for the good of the community," Strong says. "Engaging Cornell students with youngsters in Head Start will provide that human touch that will be mutually inspiring for the readers and the youngsters to whom they will be reading."

United Way of Tompkins County observes National Philanthropy Day to recognize the entire spectrum of services provided by the non-profit community. The Tompkins County Philanthropy Day project is a collaboration of Cornell's Campus Life, Athletics, Mortar Board, Public Service Center, Fraternity and Sorority Affairs and Cornell Tradition offices -- the venues through which the students were recruited -- as well as the Finger Lakes Chapter of the American Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Family Reading Partnership, Tompkins Community Action and the United Way of Tompkins County.

"With college students reading Rainbow Fish to Head Start students, two groups at different ends of the continuum are coming together and sharing the values of giving, receiving and, hopefully, having some fun together," says James Brown, president of United Way of Tompkins County.