LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- To the kids at the Cabbage Patch, she's known as "Mrs. Fish."

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Lea Fischbach has been a dedicated, award-winning volunteer with inner city kids at the Patch for 12 years.

Her specialties are crafts and cooking -- kind of ironic, when you learn Fischbach's "big sister" in college was Martha Stewart.

She and Stewart were sorority sisters at Barnard College in New York. The difference now is she whips up her magic for pleasure, not profit, helping those who need it most.

"My hours down here are normally my very best hours," she said. "Hopefully, I'm my best self when I'm here. Normally I come with a bag full of tissue paper, glue and scissors and string and the children and I craft together most of the time."

On this day, the activities include making flowers -- and smiles.

"There's something called the Patch Way that we've tried to put down on paper a few times, and it never quite works out, but that's to model respect and how to be respectful; how to be trustworthy and how to trust, and kind of how to honor the uniqueness and honor of every child," Fischbach said. "And I guess that on my best days, that's what I'm trying to do."

"Lea Fischbach is absolutely amazing," said Cabbage Patch Executive Director Tracy Holladay. "She is a woman who devotes an unbelievable amount of energy to all the children of this community, not just the Cabbage Patch."

"I definitely get my energy from children and especially these kids," Fischbach said. "Because they are for the most part so receptive to anything you want to share with them, and they can tell that when you say, 'That's great' or 'You did a good job,' that they are soaking it in and it is going to make their day better."