NATCHEZ — Students from Fraizer Primary and McLaurin Elementary schools had some springtime fun with children with special needs at Kyle’s House Saturday while giving back to the community.

The Americorps Junior Citizen Corps students in grades one through four recently filled 40 Easter baskets with stuffed animals, books, candy, toiletries and other items to donate to children at Kyle’s House and the Sunshine Children’s Center, AmeriCorps tutor Stacey Owens said.

The Frazier and McLaurin students delivered the baskets to Kyle’s House Saturday and interacted with the children on the playground.

Kyle’s House is a day care facility that offers support services to families, particularly those with special needs children.

The students helped the day care children find eggs at an Easter egg hunt, competed in potato sack races, got their faces painted, played games and listened to Frazier librarian Mary Armstead read “Clifford’s Happy Easer.”

LaTanya Jefferson, an AmeriCorps reading tutor, said they chose to come to Kyle’s House and make donations to the Sunshine shelter in order to focus on children with special needs and neglected children.

Both Frazier and McLaurin students and the Kyle’s House children benefited from spending the day together.

“We wanted to show our students that students with special need can do the same activities,” Jefferson said.

Established in 1988, Global Youth Service Day is an annual campaign that celebrates and mobilizes children who improve their communities each day of the year through service and service-learning.