15,000 Children Record Song for Charity

NEW YORK (AP) - May 17, 2007 -- About 15,000 children and Bob McGrath from "Sesame Street" gathered in Shea Stadium on Thursday morning, but it wasn't for a New York Mets game.

It was to sing a song for 7-year-old Ronald Sterling, who suffers from a rare immune system disorder called Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome.

The song was created by Songs of Love, a nonprofit that writes and records one-of-a-kind tunes for sick children. The organization has created more than 12,000 professionally produced personalized songs.

"Ronald Sterling, you're a grand-slam home run, you're our champion," McGrath sang.

The group performed at the Queens stadium because Ronald loves baseball but is too ill to go to a game, and the children were at the stadium for a field trip anyway. McGrath, who plays the human character Bob on "Sesame Street," later presented a CD of the recording to Ronald at St. Mary's Children's Hospital.

The song was written by John Beltzer, who created Songs of Love, and two other people.

The organization has about 100 writers on staff and has been creating songs for 11 years. Beltzer created the organization in honor of his brother, who committed suicide, and he works with child life specialists and social workers all over the country who request songs for children.

"When they first receive the songs from us, they play it like 50 times and drive their parents crazy," Beltzer said of the recipients. "They're really happy when they hear the song that's all about them."

He said the songs are often played for the children when they are going through painful treatments for their illnesses.

ON THE NET:

Songs of Love: http://www.songsoflove.org

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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