#BeTheGoodMSN: A small tale that made a BIG impact

Dear friends & neighbors,

It was a couple weeks ago when Olivia, one of our ECE teachers, told me the story about a blanket, some spilled milk and a dumpster and I thought, "I love this place." See if you agree.

Her story didn't start out happy. She explained, "One of the girls in my class, Grace, accidentally spilled milk on her favorite blanket, so I put it in a garbage bag by the door to help me remember to send it home with her. I forgot. When I came in the next morning, it was gone. The custodians must have thought it was trash."

Olivia dreaded the idea of telling Grace what happened — she was ready to climb in the dumpster if she had to, so she went to Cam, our maintenance manager, to ask for a ladder.

But no. Cam wasn't having that. Instead, his first impulse was to tell her, "I'm on it." And he was. Cam hopped right in and started ripping open bags. Three or four bags later? He found Grace's treasured blanket.

It may be closer to his job description than Olivia's, but really, no one relishes the idea of digging around in a stinky dumpster. Both of them were ready to jump in. For Grace.

I know, it's not an earth-shattering story, but I wanted to share it with you because isn't THAT what the world is craving more of these days? Kindness.

That's why we're shining a light on the goodness happening all around us, and we're challenging you to do the same. I'd like to introduce you to #BeTheGoodMSN. It's not just a hashtag. It's a reminder that we're all surrounded by kindness every day.

So let's come together to BE THE GOOD in our community. We've shared a bunch of Goodman's stories of goodness on our website, but every day, we meet wildly kind people working to make this whole community a special place. People like you.

If you want to help Goodman continue to be an oasis of kindness, make a gift today.

Thank you for ALL the ways you've helped us be here as a force for good during challenging times. You, the kids and adults who come here every day and Goodman staff keep proving we can all 'BE THE GOOD' in someone's life.

Take care,

Letesha Nelson, CEO & Executive Director

P.S. If you have your own example of kindness (and I bet you do), share it with us here.