Thursday, March 31, 2011

Heroes

One of the stories I read recently on CNN Heroes was about this Italian man who came to America many years ago and started out working as a dishwasher. He eventually became the chef and owner of this high end restaurant and has made it his lifes mission to feed "motel kids" every day by making them fresh pasta. Motel kids are kids whose families live in motels because they cannot afford to pay rent or put food on the table for their kids. Read more of this heart warming story here.




It reminded me of 6 years ago when i spent 9 months in California to do missions. Every week, my group and I would visit this low-income/government housing community and spend about 2 hours with the children in that complex. Most of these kids came from broken families, had abusive parents, and their escape was that one or two hours every week that we would come and play with them. There was one particular family that has stayed close to my heart and 6 years later, the kids still email me to let me know simple things like they've been getting good grades at school, their soccer team won their last game, etc. Sometimes we may not have money or material things to give but the most precious thing you can give is TIME.

Who are the heroes in your community?



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17 comments:

Curly said...

People like him make me proud of being Italian!

dolce la robyn said...

I FREAKING LOVE YOUR NEW BANNER YO!!!

;') the heroes in my community would be some doctors. who work their ass off for patients.

i used to visit nursing home and i enjoyed it. i felt so sad for all these old citizen who were abandoned by their family.

Ricademus said...

When our son started school he was attending a special education center, not a neighborhood school. About 60% of his classmates were from a community like the one you visited. My wife volunteered to be the room mother and spent a lot of time with the kdis--taking them food and collecting coats and gloves for them. At Christmas she'd make a gingerbread house for each kid. We'd help them decorate the houses in class to take home for the holidays. So I guess she's my community hero. My crazy, crazy hero. ;P

Once you get started, you realize that you get as much out of the experience as the kids do. The best way for a person to fast-track themselves out of a funk, is to find someone they can help.

Mana said...

Hey! Nice layout!!!! Loving the banner too =P

Yes Fish house does tea too and so do a lot of other places LOL Im quite surprised there are so many tea places, or course in a pleasant way! Way more tea rooms for me to explore weeee!!!! Oh yes and now soap, at least most places, my parents have a restaurant and of course, an industrial washing machine that has a temp of 60+degrees when washing the dishes!!!! Super hot! So Im sure it will be okay (but I do try to forget that when Im sipping from my cup =P)

ochikeron said...

Hi Kym,

You had a great experience in the past. I wish I could help people but like you say, it is not about the money or material things to give! They are easy for some people to give but not enough to nourish someone's spirit and hope.

I think it is a good idea that you say you can give (share) TIME. I agree with you!!!

Mimi said...

awww, that is inspiring and amazing! :)

<3, Mimi
http://whatmimiwrites.blogspot.com/

Nashe^ said...

True dat! I love stories like that :')
I was signing up for a water sanitation project in Indonesia, (to provide clean water for those peeps without drinking water) but unfortunately they told me I had to withdraw coz it clashes with my internship :(( Still pretty sad about it but oh well...there should be a next time.

Meream said...

Hmm heroes in my community...can't think of anyone, I'm out of the loop. Haha

This was a great story, btw :)

{erisha} said...

i see that you;'ve changed your layout to a new one. Love it :)

Boy do i love a touching story when i hear/see one. Nice! :D

HitomiNeko said...

=) aww that sounds great. I always appreciate the talented people who not only for for themselves but also give back to the community =)

xoxo hitomineko xoxo
*deco mirror Giveaway ends soon*

Anonymous said...

my heroes are my professors.
they had to go through masteral courses after college only to be qualified to teach in collge. you see, professors here do not have a high salary, just enough. some of my professors do not even a car, they commute.

but, they keep on teaching and teaching because its their passion.

Hazel☺ said...

awww even yours is also an inspiring story! :)

heroes in my community would have to be those people with menial jobs. i really appreciate them no matter how small people think of their work.

krissy ♥ said...

Very inspiring, Patty :) I love Rick's story, too! :)

I looooooove your new layout/ header/ color scheme!! <3

The Cat Hag said...

This is a very cool post.

Thanks for sharing about this kind and inspirational man. We need more of such people in the world. :)


xoxo,
Addie
The Cat Hag

noone said...

aww that is heart touching story. yeah sometimes time is all you need to give someone for sure. and totally agree with the sucker punch soundtrack, oh my when they played "sweet dreams" in the beginning I knew I was gonna like the soundtrack lol. happy belated birthday!!

Nikolett said...

Love your new layout/header/everything! Just reminds me to work on your galleries, I shall do that today :) And wowee ... the story of you in California and of that man, it gives me hope to still see selfless people wanting to help out in their communities, definitely! Hope you had a great weekend, cats!

thegreenhairclip said...

aww... that is so true! i gave up a lot just to have time with family and my husband, especially.