Dear Reader:

If you have ever experienced car trouble on a major highway, especially this summer, and had either a highway patrolman or a good “Samaritan” stop to assist you… and then offer you a bottle of cold ice water while you wait….you know how significant this token of hospitality can be. Not just physically but spiritually.

This is the reason Anne and I go sit out in the 100 plus degree DSS parking lot each Wednesday afternoon…. with our tokens of bottles of ice water and cookies. I could write a blog each and every Thursday on the emotional moments shared while handing water bottles and cookies through a car window. God, indeed, is everywhere.

Some individuals and families are so downtrodden that simply the fact that somebody cares enough to flag them down and let them know that they care about them and  their situation brings tears to our and their eyes.

When we hand them the sheet that shows the location of where they can get a free supper seven days a week (for themselves and their families) and free staples at pantries….drivers and passengers look back at us in awe. Some break down emotionally…You mean there is an inter-ministry program that wants to help all God’s children”

It is so personal and so private that I just lock the memories away tightly.

Wednesday, however, was different. Anne ran to a car window with the bottled water while I was grabbing the cookies and the information sheets..I heard a squeal and Anne called me over….the driver was a former student at Alston Middle School who had participated in a SC Humanities Grant (We Be Gullah) which Anne, Lorraine White, and myself wrote one summer. Mandy (my daughter) helped us with the creation of the Story People art works. It was one of the most powerful experiences students and teachers ever shared together.

The project description read: The overwhelming goal is to instill an appreciation for Gullah culture and traditions of the South Carolina Lowcountry in our students. Gullah is a culture on the verge of being lost due to the emigration of its younger generations from the barrier sea islands.

There is an African proverb that says: “When an old person dies, a story goes up in flames.”  Thirty eighth-graders, from all races and socio-economic backgrounds, will learn this new culture together. Simultaneously they will explore and internalize connections to their present lives and those of the community.”

………………………………..

I asked our former student to let us get a picture of her….she got her nine-year-old daughter to take our picture together. She remembered every part of the Gullah experiences that year and told us how special they still were to her.  Like Anne, she even still had her Story Person and reads to her daughter the creative writing and poetry assignments she did…. abilities she discovered during the experience. She wants her daughter to know that one never forgets a learning experience if it is special.  It stays in your memory forever.

For our finale “show and tell” the grant students entertained their families on the beautiful lawn at Drayton Hall. They did skits, speaking only Gullah, danced to the Adande drummers, sang Gullah songs, read their poetry about the experience and then shared a picnic with their families.

Our former student vividly remembered her father joining in the Gullah final dance with her…..a family moment she has never forgotten. She just remembered the unity and pride of having gone the journey with strangers who turned into life-long friends.

The Story People Displays and potluck dinner under the oaks.

*Later that year our grant won first place at the State Social Studies Conference for new creative endeavors that promote unity and acceptance of others….including  personal and cultural beliefs. Diversity….the foundation of our nation’s strength. A lesson to last a lifetime!

So until tomorrow…“Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.” Margaret Mead  (With ice water and cookies!)

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Yesterday there a telephone call from “Jakie” and I could hear him saying “Hi Boo Boo”  “Ov ou Boo Boo” “Bye Boo Boo” and then this cute picture was texted to me. I texted back….“A great way to start the day” !!!!!!!!!