Students gathered in the gymnasium at Redding Elementary School in Seymour recently for the kick-off of the annual Jump Rope for Heart program.

The program is a weeklong fundraiser for the American Heart Association. It was scheduled to begin Monday but was postponed because of the bad weather this past week. That forced the cancellation of classes for the week.

This year, the school recognized Emily Hume, a Seymour student and recipient of a heart transplant.

Hume spoke at the assembly, and she was followed by the Brown Bouncing Bears, a jump rope team from Margaret R. Brown Elementary School.