When terrorists attacked the town of Beslan, Russia, a few weeks ago, one statement from news reports struck at MerriLee O’Brien’s heart.

“The terrorists kept telling them, ‘No one cares about you. Your government doesn’t care about you,’” she says. “You know, people in Russia oftentimes do feel very isolated. They’re not aware the rest of the world is watching,”

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O’Brien, a psychologist who has spent weeks at a time in Russia as a professional volunteer, was haunted by those words.

“I literally could not sleep,” she says of the days following the attack, in which hundreds died, including many children. “So I wanted to do something — to let them know someone does care and that we noticed.”

She wasn’t alone. Her husband David and their two daughters, Shay and Bridget, wanted to help as well. In fact, it was Shay’s idea to make T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase “I love Beslan,” with the word “Beslan” spelled out in Cyrillic, the Russian alphabet.

So they went to work, working with Twin Bows Embroidery in Lake Highlands to have T-shirts made, and contacting people at Shay and Bridget’s schools, Lake Highlands Freshman Center and Moss Haven Elementary, respectively, to spread the word. They also involved their church, Northridge Presbyterian in Lakewood.

The plan was to have people buy T-shirts for $12, and for every shirt bought, the O’Briens would send another T-shirt in a care package to Beslan citizens, along with pictures of Americans wearing the shirts.

“I really thought we would just sell 50 T-shirts, and send 50 over there with pictures of people there wearing them,” O’Brien says.

But that’s not what happened. As of mid-October, more than 300 shirts had been bought in both Lakewood and Lake Highlands. People have also given money, and kids at the girls’ schools have written letters and drawn pictures for the people of Beslan.

The idea, now dubbed the Beslan Project, has extended even beyond the O’Brien home. The Learning Tree pre-school in Lakewood also is selling T-shirts (director Judy Allen is a friend of O’Brien’s — they’ve volunteered in Russia together), and friends in Illinois and Colorado are undertaking similar projects in their states.

“This has meaning for people because they felt this in a very personal way, just like we did with 9/11,” says O’Brien, who hopes to ship the care package to Beslan by the end of the year. “It feels good to be doing something personal that isn’t just something out of the pocketbook.

“They do need the money,” she continues, adding that people have commented that Beslan could have been better served by donations of cash. “But they need this too. Symbolic gestures are important — no matter how poor they are — to know people care and are thinking of them.”

O’Brien and others were particularly touched by the actions of a class at Moss Haven for children with emotional problems. In the days after the Beslan tragedy, without prompting, the kids in the class started to make cards and write letters for the Russian children affected.

“It really touched us to see this small class of children, with many needs of their own, reach out because they could identify with what these children were going through,” says Moss Haven principal Carole Kilduff.

“It’s just amazing,” O’Brien says. “People are so good, and they want to do something to help.”

Brent Barry, associate pastor at Northridge, where congregants have bought 160 T-shirts, says he sees the work of God in what O’Brien has done.

“It’s just so empowering for me to see a member of our congregation do this, instead of feeling helpless and like there’s nothing we can do,” he says. “And it’s been such a family thing for her. Her daughters have helped out a lot with this, and things like that really empower children to see we can make a difference in this world.”

Watching her daughters delve into this project has been one of the most rewarding parts, O’Brien says.

“In this society, my children are as spoiled as any,” she says, “and when I see empathy in their eyes, I want to jump on that and encourage their good hearts.

“When you do stuff like this, it comes back to you in a million ways.”

The O’Brien family is still accepting drawings, letters and donations, and T-shirts are still available. Contact MerriLee O’Brien at merrileeanderson@sbcglobal.net. Or call The Learning Tree in Lakewood for T-shirts at 214-320-9690.