Giving back

The Health Occupation Operation Hope Mentor Program recently organized an activity with their mentors to teach them to give back.

The students mentor to at-risk children at the Fifth and Sixth Grade Center where the Sikeston Career and Technology students usually give things to the kids in the program. Recently, they taught the children the importance of paying kindness forward. The high school students along with the mentor children made blankets for the homeless and donated them to the St. James AME Church People's Shelter Ministry with a handwritten note that said: "Smile. Someone CARES about you." They serve the homeless in the area and house, feed, and provide love to many who otherwise would do without. "This type of love and kindness is what we are all called to do," said health occupations instructor Gloria Houston.

"This was a powerful lesson because many of he younger kids think their life is terrible. When they see another that is totally without a place to live, food to eat, or anyone to care about them it made them stop and rethink life." According to Houston, some became emotional as they worked hard on their handwritten notes in an effort to make someone smile when they receive their very own blanket to keep.