Obviously when blogging about real people there are privacy issues to be considered, so in each one of the blogs the kids will be referred to as either Johnny or Jane. So this story is about a little Johnny. There are a couple stories about this same child that I'll be writing. He is one of those special kids who touches your life in a wonderful way. Teachers aren't supposed to have favorites, but some kids just stand out more than others and yes they are a favorite. Contrary to popular belief it isn't the perfect kid who always does what they're told and gets perfect grades, instead it's the one that tests your patience everyday. They push you to the brink and back and just when you think you can't take it anymore they do something wonderful so that you're reminded your life has meaning and it's all because of that mell of a hess kid that crawls under your skin and stays there for good. THAT is the definition of "teacher's pet." So here's a story about this Johnny. This happened right after the tragic earthquake in Haiti that devastated the country and took so many lives. It was all over the news at that time and consumed much of our thoughts as we went through the day. Previously in the same year the kids had run a "Trick Or Treat For UNICEF" campaign and raised almost a thousand dollars for UNICEF.

During centers one of my students was playing and suddenly he left his game and came over to me. I was reading with another child and he said very politely "excuse me Ms. Stacy but I have to tell you something important." He said "my mom told me that theirs a lot of kids that need some help." I instantly knew he was talking about Haiti and I asked him if he meant the kids in Haiti. He said yes and that we needed to collect money for them just like for Unicef. I agreed that that was a great idea and he said that he needed a jar. So I went to the cabinet and got him a jar and told him to make a sign on the jar that said what it was for. He did and then told me that he needed a jar for all of his classmates. I told him I didn't have 10 jars and could they share? "No, this is real important and everyone needs their own bank...how about a bag." Yes, I have bags. I gave him 10 little paper lunch bags and he spent the rest of the hour writing each of his classmate's names and "money for the kids in Haiti" on the front. This is a lot of work for one little guy and a big sacrifice to give up your play time to make charity bags for kids you've never seen. Then he took the bags, passed them out and explained to the kids what they were for. "These need to stay at school and Ms. Stacy will give us money to put in them." I keep a basket of change and when they were collecting for Unicef I'd pass out coins for their Unicef bank as their reward. So I got my change and we preceded to earn money for Haiti throughout the day. One of the kids made a big sign that said "munee for Hadee" and drew a picture of a house with a big X through it, meaning 'don't take it home.' I'm not sure why, but to them it was really important that the bags stay at school.

True empathy in a young child is a rare thing. Their little brains just tend to be pretty self centered at 5 and 6 years old and that's developmentally normal. But every once in awhile a child comes to my class and they just have a heart that's bigger than their 6 years. Of course I can't be sure, because after they leave my class the road is very long and full of bumps and anything can happen, but sometimes get a deep down feeling that says "this one here is special, they will go far and the world is lucky to have them." I got that feeling that day.

As the week went on I shared his story with a couple of people who in turned shared it with others. It mushroomed. Before the week was out people from all over campus were dropping off change for Johnny's Haiti fund. They told their family and friends and I had people sending in checks from places all over the United States. Johnny brought in his "toy fund" money from home and every classmate that had a piggy bank or received an allowance dipped into their own personal fund to give to Haiti. Johnny's parents decided to create a webpage for him so people could give online. The class set a goal and tracked the progress with a bar graph and ended up exceeding their goal by around 500%. At the end of the month Johnny and his classmates had raised hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Given the magnitude of the disaster in Haiti it wasn't a lot, but the impact was huge. For myself, I'll never forget it.