The Importance of a Pillow

So, today I hosted my Reading Celebration at school. It was an amazing experience. In December I hosted about 70 kids that met the criteria to attend. This semester about 113 qualified up from the 70 in December. We went shopping to get prizes this week for the celebration and one of the things I decided to pick up as a prize was a pillow. A normal $6.00 bed pillow from Wal-mart. I was asked why I was buying that as a prize. I work with over 800 kids and I know for a fact that sometimes, some of them sleep on the floor and of the 113 kids that qualified, at least one of them will want this new bed pillow. I also bought men's and women's socks as some of the prizes. Brand new packages of socks. So, as the Reading Celebration got underway and I began to draw names for winners to come up and select any prize they wanted from the table, one young man came up and embraced the pillow as his. I asked him if that was what he really wanted out of all the prizes: footballs, soccer balls, basketballs, tennis balls, posters, candy, and more. This young man chose a new bed pillow. I waited until later after all of the chaos had passed and took time to reflect and my eyes filled with tears. 113 kids and every single name was drawn and awarded a prize of their choice along with a certificate of achievement which included free food coupons to a local restaurant. Out of 113 kids it is noted that at least one kid wanted that brand new bed pillow and then I couldn't help but wonder...how many more wish they could have picked that prize? Perhaps next fall when I plan the celebration again, I'll get two of them and who knows...maybe more. My prize picking partner that provided moral support and muscle pushing the cart couldn't understand why I'd buy a pillow or socks, but tonight as I shared that story about the joy each child took away with their prize, he understood. I told the story more than once tonight and at least a few times it brought a smile and a tear of understanding of what it is like to work with kids.

I can honestly say that serving in my job is an honor. Kids allow me an opportunity to help them and to have a say and middle school kids are not the easiest kids to find a way to reach. Today, though, I reached some kids and better than that...they reached me.