A special request from a student…..
by paleolithicromano
I am not sure how to do this, or even how to go about accomplishing this, but I feel the need to throw this out to the internet and see if it helps.
I am a science teacher at a private boarding school in Philadelphia where the student body comes from a single or no parent, low income background. They are not the type of students who have a lot.....and the holidays are a tough time for them. So at my school we have a "make a wish tree" where the students write their wish on a paper ornament and tape it to the tree. We get an assortment of requests from gift cards, to candy, to baseball gloves, to food, to hats, etc.
But this year we were really were touched when one of the students simply wrote "I wish I could give a hug to the families suffering in Newtown, CT.
Here we had a student who knew they could get a gift, but decided to use her wish to carry out a simple act of kindness.
I understand that the families have had enough media attention, and I am sure this request might be borderline inappropriate, but I couldn't live with myself if I at least didn't try.
So here is my thought (and anyone who knows me knows this is WAY out of my comfort zone), on Friday I will hug the student who made the request, this sunday I will drive to Newtown, CT and deliver that hug to any individual or individuals willing to accept it.
If you know me, you may be laughing, I am not a hugger, I rarely, if ever hug people, but there are times in life where we need to step out of our comfort zone, this is one of those times.
If you have anyway of making this happen, contact me, if you don't, please pass this along to someone who may, or at the very least, just share it.
I really, more than anything, want to make this student's Christmas wish come true.
Contact: paleoromano@gmail.com or leave a comment here.
