to learn

yesterday was magical. let me back up. when the new sallie house foster home was built 6 months ago, the bedrooms were wonderful, kitchen state of the art, and televisions lined every wall. the children were safe and on their way to becoming healthy. however, there was one piece i saw missing...learning. and these are the children that need positive learning experiences more than any other. there was a need for a center of learning. a place where these kids could be exposed to similar experiences that my children had on a daily basis. we needed it and i knew how to get it. our school decided a few years ago, that the annual walk-a-thon would be designated as a charitable event to instill in our children the importance of giving and teach them something that no textbook could begin to cover. when i presented it, everyone was on board. the event was held in april (child abuse awareness month) and we raised over $5,000. with the help of a lead teacher and several parents, we made a plan. lakeshore learning company generously donated $700 worth of shipping costs to us, allowing us to purchase all we needed to make the learning center complete. last week, a huge shipment arrived and the children have been left to wonder what was held inside. yesterday, they found out.

we arrived separately, but came together as one. 3 students from local highschools came as the "muscle", but soon could be seen setting small cars on a track. people from different generations, different walks of life, coming together as a community to make a difference. few words were spoken, we all just knew what we had to do. within hours, nothing (i mean nothing---just an empty room) turned into something, and "something" does not even cut it. for some of these children, it is "everything!" little children came in and picked up books. words on a page were read in a place that had never heard pages turn. a 13 year old girl played tic tac toe in a world where she was never able to be a child. another girl that uses music as an outlet could spend the evening dancing and singing. it was a good day!