News

01/11/2009 CIS and A Can of Corn

I am married to an athletic trainer, so the phrase "can of corn!" has been yelled often during baseball season when an outfielder snags a flyball, much in the tradition of the old country stores when the grocer had to use a hook to pull the cans of corn from the top shelf for a customer. Now, it is used casually to imply a routine-nothing-to-write-home-about play. So, the story this week from one of our CIS site coordinators caught my eye.

The last week of the fall semester, CIS gave more than 120 elementary and middle school children some care packages, gifted by the generosity of Children, Incorporated in Richmond, Virginia. When given a bag filled with warm clothing, pajamas, and a few canned goods, a young girl pulled out of the bag a can of corn. She was so excited that you would have thought she was a 16 year-old that had just been given a new car. She politely demanded to eat it right then. She did not want to bring it home because she believed she would not get to eat it if she did. The CIS site coordinator and school social worker opened the can and asked if she would like it heated up in the microwave. She definitvely said that she did not, and she proceeded to eat the entire can of corn right out of the can. Later in the day she was observed placing the pajamas on top of her clothes, and looking at them in awe as if she had never gotten anything new.

Don't underestimate the impact the smallest of effort you make will have in the life of a child who needs the WHOLE village to give her/him a fighting chance at a successful and productive adulthood.

Yesterday, we got a $1 donation on our website from a woman in California, giving to a CIS fund set up by a group of friends in California who just "wanted to Make it Happen for the children of New Orleans." I hope Rouse's has corn on sale today. I'm headed to the grocery store to buy as many cans as I can with my Del Monte or Green Giant coupon and that dollar. I can't wait until Monday morning, because I'm driving over to the school and making sure the CIS site coordinator has some corn on her shelf in the CIS room. That little girl is going to get a can of corn a week from CIS if I have to buy it myself. She's going to finish out this semester knowing that there are some new caring adults in her life at her school. And I bet you that little New Orleans girl is glad meterologist Margaret Orr is calling for chilly weather this week.

Can of corn! It is a privilege to care for the children of New Orleans together with you.

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Communities In Schools of Greater New Orleans, Inc.
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