Sincerely, Your Sad and Joyful Friends

Dear Samantha:

We wish you could have been at the Children’s Art Festival at our school, Lawrence Elementary in Garden Grove, on Saturday. There were so many things to do and see. And it was all in your name and on your seventh birthday.

You should have been there.

Some people said you were, you know, in spirit, but it would have been so much better if we could have done things together, like we used to.

The Joyful Child Foundation started by your mom, Erin Runnion, put the whole thing together. You could make tissue paper flowers, paintings with all these super colors, and yarn bowls like they do in Mexico. They were a little messy, ‘cause you had to dip your fingers in a bowl of glue and then take the yarn and carefully wrap it round and round cups or little bowls they had. But they were so beautiful when they were done, it was worth the mess.

There were so many kids and moms and dads, and everyone seemed to be having a great time. One of the moms said there were more than 2,000 there.

This girl, Jessica Malane, she’s 8, she was making a dream catcher. It’s like a plate with the center cut out and you pass yarn through holes in the rim, back and forth, so you can catch dreams. Isn’t that the neatest?

We asked Jessica why she was there. She said, “To have fun!” She had it all mapped out, just like we would have done. After the dream catcher, “then we’re going to the poster contest and then I want to do the Mexican paper flowers.”

Her dad, Dan, said he was there to support your mom. She was there in the morning to thank all of the volunteers (and there were a lot). But because it was your birthday, she wanted to go home early and wish you a happy birthday in her own way. We understand.

Our principal, Jeanne Clifford, and your first-grade teacher, Kristan Elliott, were there. Ms. Clifford was talking about you and started crying. I felt sorry for her. She really misses you. But she was brave, just like you. She said: “It’s a very happy day. I don’t think there’s a better way to pay tribute to her. To take a horrible situation and make it good.”

It was horrible, Samantha, that you were taken away from us last July while you were playing with a friend near your home in Stanton.

But these last few days, the July 15 anniversary of when you were taken and your birthday, your mom (she’s so cool) said she would rather focus on your life, not your death. That’s what the Joyful Child Foundation is about. A very nice man, Bill McMahon, is the foundation president, and he said its real mission is “to protect our children.” He wants people to be more alert, like they teach us in school, and watch out for one another.

“The biggest thing is getting neighbors to communicate with each other,” Mr. McMahon said. He wants the foundation to sponsor programs that “make sure children are being watched.”

He’s going to start this thing called Samantha’s Pride in the fall. It’s supposed to help children “feel a sense of security and feel parents are concerned about their safety and well-being.”

I know my folks are more aware of where I am and what I’m doing, and I guess that’s what he means.

Oh, I almost forgot. Each time kids did an activity, like calligraphy or puppet-making, they got a stamp in a booklet they got at the gate with drawings of all the activities. When they got a few stamps, they could go get refreshments and treats. It was so cool.

The Orange County Philharmonic was there with violins and drums for us to play. Lauren Wolcott, she’s 7 and goes to Orangethorpe Elementary School in Fullerton, was having the best time playing the violin. We really thought she had played before, but nope. She never played before.

You should have seen all the groups and stuff that were there in your name, Samantha. Especially something that made us cry, this big Orange County Sheriff’s Department truck called the Samantha I. There’s another called the Samantha II.

The Sheriff’s Department, which worked so hard to find you, had just received the trucks a couple of months before you disappeared, and it was the first time they were used. And now your name is on both of them. We cried. Inside, they’ve got all sorts of TVs and computers and stuff. They’re like these command centers. Deputy Dan Meyers was explaining the whole thing. We just thought it was the coolest that these trailers, that cost $750,000 each, have your name on them.

But I guess the best thing about the day, Samantha, was all the smiles on faces of kids and adults and volunteers. You still have this way of making people smile. Your teacher said, “That smile you see on TV, that’s her.” She’s right.

Happy birthday, Samantha.