Stories of Service

Being Consistent & Becoming Friends

Rickey

Foster Grandparents -

One of our volunteers worked with a 10-year-old student who was very introverted. She didn’t talk, socialize, or have any friends. It took her a long time to even say hello to our volunteer, Rickey. After several weeks, she broke out of her shell and spoke to him. She told him that she had no friends at school or outside of school and that her mother would not allow her to go outside and play with the other kids in the neighborhood. One of the next few days, Rickey noticed that she was sitting alone in the classroom. He asked her if there were any students in the classroom that she would like to be friends with. She pointed out three other girls. Rickey approached the group of girls and them know that the lonely student wanted to be friends with them. In return, he would reward them. The group of girls approached her as she was sitting all alone and were able to brighten her spirit. They all became good friends over the next few weeks, and as a reward, Rickey gave them all a pizza party.

The student who had been all alone went to camp in March and ended up winning awards for leadership. She went from being shy and soft-spoken, to being a leader because of something as simple as having friends. Rickey said it best, “Everyone needs a friend to grow.”