Remember Nina with the awesome teacher? Her teacher came by the Center yesterday to pick up some books and I had a chance to follow-up on our girl.
Not only did she get to go to the D.J. party, but she got to go on a field trip to the museum and to see a helicopter!
The teacher very quietly handled the money donation so that the mom may still go to pay what she owes. If she does, the money becomes a donation from the Center to the school.
This is what community is about! By the way...word on street is...Nina had a great time!
Response back from the reporter from our local newspaper. I did an interview with her to cover the Student Sponsorship. I'm including it here to show you why I always go on and on about gratitude. Look what she did! She forwarded, with recommendation, the info to people and organizations she's connected with. She offered advice and encouragment.
I am surrounded by people who are SO good. They add their hands, backs, hearts, and minds to all the things we try to accomplish. They make my job incredibly easy, and my heart a million times lighter. One person can make a difference, but a team of people is unstoppable :)
Thanks as always for the quotes and information--you always give me "just what I need"!! I've sent the article in and it is set to run June 5. I also sent the info to contacts that I have with the Rotary, Kiwanis and with the district Boy Scouts, in hopes that maybe you could get help by their picking it up as a project. I'd suggest that we do the article even earlier next year, so that school groups could make this a project for next spring--getting rid of school items they did not use during the year/as well as getting students/clubs to possibly sponsor a drive at their individual schools.
Hope this will help your project-
We are at $2000.00! Thank you to everyone who has generously sponsored a child. We can already give 26 students three uniforms, a pair of shoes, and all their school supplies. That's a classroom of children - and we just got started!
If you'd like to sponsor a child, please message me so that I can get the information to you. This ministry is a 501(c)3 non-profit. All gifts are tax-deductible.
Here's a story for you:
Little fourth-grader, we'll call her Nina, loves her teacher and her school. She participates in the school candy sales and sells $100 in candy. The teacher verifies this. Nina is excited and thinking about prizes like the rest of the kids. On the day the money is due, Nina is bereft...she has none to trun in. She informs her teacher that her mother used the money to "buy shoes." Parent refuses to return money, even a good faith $20, to school and stops answering her phone. (Mind you, no shoes were purchased for the little girl)
Here's the part you'll love. Nina is punished at school. She cannot attend the field trips. She misses two end-of-the-year trips, even the big one to the alligator farm. The teacher even paid her $20 fee and tried to sneak her on the bus. She was pulled out of line and sent away to sit in a classroom.
The teacher says the child cries every day. I guess so. What is she learning? That it's wrong to steal? No. She is learning that you can be punished for the wrongs of others even when you try your hardest to do something good. Nina lives at the poverty level and this is probably not the last or the worst of the lessons she will learn in her environment. I worry about the Ninas.
We met the teacher because she comes personally to pick up children's books we cannot sell. The books are below the grade level of her students, but she talks about how much they mean to her students. She said, "You wouldn't think that a big tough boy is going to want to take home a Barney book. But he does." She explained why. "He wants to read it to his littl brother."
There's a heart-breaker and a heart-warmer all in one. Her students are low-level, but they get to go home and be big brothers and sisters, showing that they can read. That feels good and they can keep the books. So many kids with so few books in their homes. Hard to believe.
So...back to Nina. I asked my assistant to code it under "Director's Discretion rather than to a client." We paid her fee and asked that the school still try to get the mother to return the money. Tomorrow is a D.J. Party and Nina will be there. The budget column we coded it to is called "Jesus Would Do It." Sometimes it's just the right thing to do, even when there is no label.
COMMENTS
Nina and I are very glad people like you are in this world. :)
I let that teacher load up those books and drive away. Then I said to my coworkers, "I wanna pay that bill." One said, "You have my blessing." The other said, "I'm calling her cell phone."
The teacher came back in tears. God, those students are SO lucky to have that teacher. So so so lucky. Teachers like her are the heroes out in the trenches with these poorly loved kids. God bless them.
It breaks your heart and soothes the pain at the same time. People like this teacher are pure hope.
No question. I wish all students were lucky enough to have a teacher like her.
Hope exists everywhere we look...
...my heart breaks for kids like Nina.
I know no one person can fix the whole world, but each of us can make a huge difference in our own little corner of it...
There's some very lucky kids with a teacher like that and you all at your organization to care and help.
My oldest daughter has been living the last 10 months in West Virginia, finishing her senior year of high school there. some of you may remember reading a letter I sent to her recently to encourage her. I miss her VERY much.
I call my kids "pumpkin" or sometimes, "pumpkin pie." Not sure why or when I started doing that...just a mom thang. Once when Allie was a little pumpkin, she noticed that I save the crust for last when I eat pie. She asked why and I told her it was my favorite part. From then on, she wanted to be my "pumpkin pie crust."
Today, she sent me flowers at work. Beautiful tulips of all different colors. But best of all, a card with her words written on it:
From a thousand miles away,
In my heart is where you stay.
Forever warm in my embrace
Pumpkin pie, I think I taste...
Missin u mommy...
She signed it, "Ur sweetest pumpkin pie crust ever, Allie"
You made my day, kiddo. I love you very much, my pumpkin pie crust.
COMMENTS
*sniff*
So sweet...
That is so incredibly touching. :]
*wipes a tear*
My staff just called me to meet with them in the kitchen. Their somber faces suggested that we had a difficult client they wanted me to weigh-in on. Instead, they sang Happy Birthday to me and had THIS in the table.
It's a Sushi Birthday Cake! How awesome is THAT?!
COMMENTS
awesome! A very Happy Birthday to you!
Thanks. They completely fooled me. I showed up in the kitchen with pen and notepad. They were very pleased with their sneaky little selves :)
I want!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday dear Lady. :D *hugs*
Happy Birthday. :]
Happy Birthday fellow Taurus! (mine was yesterday. :) )
Oh you contrary bleedin'... here's me logging in to send the "happy birthday" VR earlier declined to deliver for me, and there's you over there eradicating any chance of points for thoughtful un-forgetishness. Did you even think about how much it inconveniences other people when you share your happiness in your journal?
;) congratulations on your successful orbit around the sun. Next time I'll race ya.
I thought this was wonderful. Even if you don't share my faith, I think it speaks to everyone about perspective and gratitude. Let me know what you think.
"MY CUP OVERFLOWS
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows (Psalm 23:5).
With the last phrase in verse 5, David said, “I have more of God than I can contain. I have more blessings than room to hold them. My life in God is a life of abundance.”
Here are some areas of my life in which “my cup overflows.” I have more sermon ideas than I could ever preach in my lifetime. I have more ministry opportunities than I can possibly pursue. I have a family that supports me and encourages me in my work; I’m never lacking here. I have more books on my “to read” list than I can possibly read in the next six months. I’ve experienced more answered prayers in my life than I can remember. I’ve been forgiven more times than I can count.
The truth is that there are probably a couple of areas of your life in which the cup isn’t quite full. You may be tempted to spend all your energy focusing on what isn’t there – focusing on what’s missing from your life. Though you can ask God to provide anything you lack – He encourages us to bring all of our needs to Him – don’t get in the habit of defining your life according to what you don’t have. Instead, make it a point each day to think about all the abundance in your life, and the areas in which God has provided more than enough. As you think about these things, you will come to see that it’s true for you, too: Your cup runs over.
-Ken Schroeder"
COMMENTS
So true. We often focus on what we dont have, rather than be thankful for the things that we have.
I am happy with what I do have - anything else that comes my way is a bonus :D
I've been blessed with the ability to work and meet my needs since I reached adulthood and everything else is my wants. I always figured the creator knew us better than ourselves and some of us need the challenge of going after those wants and made it possible for us to do so. Our greatest gift is life and our second the ability to recognize that fact.
Of all the places we can live our lives, in gratitude has always been my favorite.
First donations already in!
A certain VR lovely genius donated her web design skills to help us get the word out.
Another VR lovely responded that she'd like to help.
The local Jr. League pledged $850!
This is when I start to get REALLY excited. Real people will see what real dollars can do. Each $75 equals one kid receiving 3 school uniforms, a pair of shoes and their school supplies. Even our advertising has been free thanks to the web design help and the local paper. There's no fuzzy math...just real, measurable help and THAT makes a difference!
I continue to believe in the hearts of people. I'm walking on air. :)
COMMENTS
I've just linked to the site on Facebook. Maybe more locals will see it and want to chip in.
awesome!
I linked it to both of my Facebook accounts, that way it reaches out to more people and opens more to the possibility of helping out this wonderful cause.
♥
COMMENTS
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Vampirewitch39
18:19 May 26 2011
:D
Areli
18:32 May 26 2011
♥
I am glad Nina had a great time!
You do such wonderful work, Joli.
Joli
20:24 May 26 2011
That teacher is doing the real work. We just got lucky enough to lend her a hand, but just like you...that news made us so happy. I love picturing that kid with her class where she belongs, oohing over a helicopter. I hope her mom wakes up. They're little such a short time and she's robbing herself.
birra
20:25 May 26 2011
Awesome! I bet it all made Nina's day, if not her year.
Children are broken hearted so easily. But the converse, it take so little to make the truly appreciative ones glow with happiness. :)