An Act Of Kindness

I work for a program called D.A.R.E. It deals with teaching kids to cope with dealing with decisions like drugs, violence, and other related topics. We hold the camp for 4 weeks. I'm a counselor (someone who they can come and tell their problems to). I showed up at camp the 3rd week and there was this little boy who looked like he was lost. I asked him if he was alright and asked where he needed to go. He then started signing. I had had a friend who was deaf and I knew a little sign-language. I told him that I did not understand sign very well. He then went and got a piece of paper and a pen and wrote that he was with DARE and asked if I would be his friend because he didn't know anybody. I said I would. From that point on I knew what I needed to do. That night I went home and looked on the computer for "sign-language" I found this page and several others. I printed off a page that had the alphabet and certain phrases in sign-language. I promised myself that before I went back to camp that I would learn to talk to him as normally as I would to anyone. I studied all weekend and got the hang of most of it. I went back to camp and started signing to him. His eyes just lit up and he started signing too fast. I told him that I was still new at it so he would have to sign slower. He did and the first words that he said were "Thank you".

This has been submitted by a 15 yr. old girl who just wanted to help someone feel like they belonged.

Ashley is the first recipient of our Award For Kindness. When we wrote to Ashley and told her of my plans for creating this award to recognize what she had done, she responded, "What I did was nothing much, just something that more people should do!!" We can't think of anyone who deserves this award of recognition more than Ashley does. Well done! Awarded on July 30, 1999.