There is nothing more gut-wrenching than seeing a hungry child, which is why so many charities use such images to enlist donations.
Most of us moms can’t even resist handing out snacks when our children say they are hungry ten minutes after lunch.
A Tennessee teacher found it difficult to restrain her emotions when a young student revealed his need for a meal.
One young boy from Jacksboro Elementary School where Brooke Goins is a teacher asked a question that sparked a cascade of love.
Yahoo News reports on Goins comments concerning the emotional question:
“He asked when the lady that puts food in his backpack was coming. It caught me off guard, because it is our guidance counselor and I wasn’t sure what he needed. I told him I wasn’t sure about this week since it is a short week. He told me he was out of it at home and needed more.”
Goins quickly knew the boy was speaking about the food distributed by the school’s counselor.
Tragically, the school had run out of food that week for the food distribution program, and Goins could barely handle it.
As the viral post reveals, the teacher with a soft spot for her students began to cry upon realizing the young boy’s situation:
“I lost it, I cried in front of 20 little people. No kid should ever be hungry, ever,” her Facebook post reads.
What could she do?
The boy needed food to eat at home, not just because it was best for his academic performance, as Mommy Underground has previously reported, but because if we can help a child go to bed without the stomach pangs of a missed meal we should.
So she started a network of support from fellow teachers who pooled their money together to get the little boy food for the week.
Shopping cart items were shown in the viral post, which included soup, applesauce, and SpaghettiOs.
Teachers often get a bad rap for being a glorified babysitter, or being impersonal with their students.
Goins wants others to know that teachers care about their students and often go above and beyond, just like the teacher who carried his spina bifida student on his back for a field trip, as Mommy Underground has previously reported.
The post that has been shared more than 37,000 times and liked more than 18,000 times reads:
“I did not write this for anyone to get praise, nobody did it for the praise. I want people to know that teachers are humans, we love your kids and want the very best for them.”
The popularity was a blessing because it conjured the support needed to feed more than one student.
Jacksboro Elementary now has a food pantry where any hungry student can get the food they need.
Many schools petition the government for the resources for programs like this, allowing children to go hungry for lack of “government funding.”
Goins and her colleagues took matters back into the hands of the responsible citizen, showing that change doesn’t need to piggy back on the government.
We are all capable of small acts of kindness. Every little bit helps. Don’t wait for an institution to tell you it’s time to lift up your neighbor, face needs as they arise.
Please let us know in the comments section if you have had an opportunity to show someone an act of kindness that made a difference.