|
GARRETT — A Garrett Middle School student said she was trying to do something nice for somebody else, after her English teacher suggested her students start “paying it forward.”
Rachel Stafford of LaOtto said the simple message from her teacher, Camden Dunn, resonated: Instead of paying someone back, a person has to pay it forward and do something nice for someone else.
“Our class is assigned to do something nice for three people. Then, the three people are supposed to go out and do something else. You can’t pay it back, you have to pay it forward,” Stafford said.
As part of the assignment, Stafford said she had to write a persuasive piece, encouraging someone else to pay it forward.
“At first I was just going to do a small thing. Maybe bake cookies for volunteers at St. Martin’s,” said Stafford, whose mother, Tammy, is the executive director of the nonprofit health clinic in Garrett.
Rachel Stafford learned through Drug Free DeKalb County that Serenity House, a DeKalb County recovery home for people battling drug and alcohol addictions, was hoping to get presents to distribute to its residents’ children.
This is the second year that Serenity House has helped get Christmas gifts for children of women in the program, said the organization’s executive director, Matt Rice. This year, Rice said, he hopes to put presents under the tree for 14 children.
A 14-year-old girl was on the list of people hoping for Christmas gifts. The girl wanted three things — a music CD, hair straightener and jewelry. One child on the list, Stafford said, wanted only a toothbrush and toothpaste.
“I went to Walmart, and my mom and I bought gifts for her for Christmas,” Stafford said.
She gave the presents to Serenity House’s women’s manager Cathy McClish, who thanked her and showed her a picture of her 11 residents. Stafford said she wasn’t allowed to know which one was the mother of the 14-year-old girl.
“They (Serenity House residents) looked nothing like I thought they would look,” Stafford said of the residents. “I thought they would look all messed up, since they were alcoholics and addicted to drugs. They looked normal. That sounds mean — they didn’t look like they ever had any problems.”
Stafford hopes to volunteer at Serenity House in the future. She plans to visit the women’s facility over Christmas break.
“If my mom was a recovering alcoholic, life would be hard, and I would want somebody to help me,” Stafford said. “I want to help somebody who doesn’t get a lot. She must have a hard life.”
Stafford suggested that others start paying it forward.
“If I’m only 14, and if I can make a big impact on a girl’s life, then everybody else should be able to do at least something small,” Stafford said.
|
