Tonight's picture was taken in May of 2003, at my doctoral degree graduation party to be exact. Next to Mattie and me was my dissertation chair. We were both jumping up and down and doing whatever it took to get Mattie to smile for the camera. It worked because we got a smile out of him.
Quote of the day: From caring comes courage. ~ Lao Tzu
Today I went to our Mattie Miracle mailbox because I was alerted with an email that we had mail in our PO box. So I figured perhaps we had one or two things in there. To my surprise, we had several donations awaiting my arrival. Many of which caught me off guard. Which is always wonderful, especially post-Walk.
One donation was sent to us by a fifth grader from Mattie's school. She actually hand wrote a note to us. How many people actually take the time to write a letter these days, much less a child? I was actually quite stunned and impressed. Here is what the card said (to protect the child's identity, I am not including her name):
Dear Mrs. and Mr. Brown, Please accept this check for your Foundation. My name is ___________. I'm a fifth grader at St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School. I am also a girl scout. I was truly inspired by what you do and how much time, care and effort you put into the Foundation. I was unable to make it to the Walk this year and I was very disappointed so I decided that I wanted to do something to help. My family had a yard sale one day and I thought.... Oh, maybe I could sell donuts and support Mattie. We raised $52 just selling donuts and my parents and I each made a donation. I hope this can help support the Foundation. Thanks. Love, ________________
I think it is challenging to present to young children, the topic of childhood cancer. It is hard to know how much to share, because you want to give them some facts and parts of the reality, but at the same time not induce fear, which can easily happen. So given that I am not used to presenting to this young age group I air on the side of caution and over simplifying things. Yet when I receive a note like the one I did today, I see that the presentation that I did in March to the Girl Scouts at Mattie's School clearly got through to this young girl. A girl I did not know, and she and her family did not know Mattie either. So I view this as a success.
No comments:
Post a Comment