Hijabs and Yarmulkes, Maryams and Miriams, Haroons and Aarons, Muslim and Jewish children come together to learn about each other while creating beautiful poetry. Students of the Muslim Community Center Full Time School in Morton Grove and the Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Jewish Day School in Chicago  share a laugh at a “Poetry Pals” event. This year in March and April, Poetry Pals came to Islamic Foundation School in Villa Park and to St. Pius X School, Lombard where 90 fourth graders will meet once a month for three months. They wrote about their special foods and holidays and learned to see a friend rather than “the other”. In addition to writing verse, the program includes a service-learning project. MCC students and their new friends collected food and made placemats for a shelter. The theme for their poetry was “I am a Super Hero and I Fight Hunger” where they focused on the shared tradition of caring for others - Tzadekah and Zakat which are Hebrew and Arabic terms for charity. This year, the service-learning project at IFS and St. Pius focused on the environment.