Friends,
I will be offline the rest of the day on Monday and all of Tuesday. I hope to be back by the morning of January 6. If you need to be in touch before Wednesday, call me at 410-366-1637.
Kagiso,
Max
Wed, Dec 30, 2009
NBC TV Chicago
"Second Grader Organizes Mass Homeless Shelter Donation"
7-year-old Jonathon Slack cried when he saw a homeless woman, then he decided to help
(A video and more photos with link above.)
By ANDREW GREINER and NATALIE
After seeing a homeless woman during a holiday trip to
Jonathon Slack, a seven-year-old boy from
donation drive, collecting over four truckloads of food and toys for a
Jonathon was moved to tears when he saw the homeless woman standing
outide of Macy's on State Street, holding a sign that said she and her
son had no place to live. After he finished crying, he was moved to action.
"At home that night after I read to him and getting him ready to be
tucked in, he started crying," said Heather Slack, his mother.
He told his mom, "That lady had no shelter, mom."
"He wanted us to drive back to the city so that he could give the lady
the $6 he had in his pocket," Heather said.
The Slacks weren’t sure that was a good idea, but they encouraged
Jonathon to think of other ways to help. He thought of plenty.
He was going to paint smiley faces on rocks and sell them. He was
going to ask president Obama to take money from rich people and give
it to poor people.
His mother suggested starting a donation.
So Jonathon wrote a letter asking his community to pitch in. He
dropped off photocopies all around his neighborhood.
The response was tremendous. The youngster managed to collect over
four truckloads of food and toys, which he then sent to the Su Casa
Catholic Worker homeless shelter in
"We got started late and people only had 10 days to get their
donations together," Heather said. "They ended up donating about four
and a half trucks worth of stuff. We ended up filling their whole
elevator with food."
Jessi Gauger-Kiraly, the volunteer coordinator at the Su Casa Catholic
Worker House http://www.sucasacatholicworker.blogspot.com/ remembers
the day well. "It was really exciting because we had a lot people
moving donations in and out of the house," Gauger-Kiraly said. "It’d
be nice if people did this all year round."
"I don't know where it came from," Heather Slack said of her son's
selfless drive. "Last year we tried to get him to realize there were
people less fortunate, and it wasn't working, and this year I'd like
to think that it was Divine Intervention."
------------------------
Attached photo byline: He may be a little guy, but he helps homeless folks in a big way.
No comments:
Post a Comment