Emma arrived at school with her face down and her thumb in her mouth. The reason was that for five years Emma had watched her Dad battle cancer, and one month before school started, he lost that battle and passed away. She was a little girl who had arrived at school with a broken heart. 

She was tested and was not able to match words with sounds. She needed significant specialist intervention. There was no improvement over the next six months and Emma continued to arrive at school with her head down and thumb in her mouth.

Fortunately, it was a school where Kids Hope was already mentoring some children and they reached out to the local church to see if they could find one more mentor. The church did! 

On the first day, the teacher handed Tracey, the mentor, a sheet of letters and sounds and said, “Good Luck! If you can ever get her to work on any of these sounds that would be great.” 

In the first session, Emma sat down with her head down and thumb in her mouth, and wouldn’t say a word. Tracey remembered that back in training she was taught that one of the items she could use in mentoring sessions was a picture of her family. Tracey placed the photo in front of Emma so she could see it. Emma looked at the photo and spoke for the first time and said, “My Daddy died.” 

Tracey looked at Emma and whispered, “My Daddy died too.” Two years before, Tracey had lost her own Dad. 

Emma said, “Really?” and Tracey replied, “Yes.” 

Tracey then continued, “Emma, do you miss your Daddy?”
Emma cried, “Yes.” To which Tracey replied, “I miss my Daddy too. It’s okay to miss your Daddy.”

At that point, the thumb came out of Emma’s mouth. She looked up at Tracey, smiled and said, “It’s really okay?” 

Tracey replied, “Yes, it’s okay.”

From that point on, a great relationship started, and amazingly later in that same hour, Emma took that sheet of letters and sounds and got them all right. She filled out the entire page. 

Later that year, the reading specialist said that it was a miracle seeing Emma read. But what really happened is that Tracey came along and unlocked a little girl’s heart. 

The match between Tracey and Emma was so amazing.

Right now in a school, a little girl is sitting down with a broken heart, and she is hoping that someone will show up to help her. Right now, in that school, a little boy is sitting down, after facing lots of challenges in life, and he is hoping that someone cares.

Be that someone. You will make a great difference when you show up for a little girl or boy that needs you.