Schools are filled with unsung heroes that make immense differences in the lives of the children who attend them.
In this story, one mother was so grateful for the help a school janitor provided her son that she stopped at nothing to make sure he was appreciated.
Adrian Wood was full of concerns when sending her youngest son to school for the first time.
Her son, Amos, has autism. She knew that his experience at White Oak Elementary School in Edenton, North Carolina, was going to be very different from that of her other children.
“Sending three typical kids to school — you’re sad, but you’re excited for them,” she told TODAY . “Sending Amos to school was such a different path. He was three when he started school. He was in diapers and he didn’t speak.”
She worried about how Amos would cope and fit in with other students, but those worries vanished when he starting bonding with Raymond Brown.
Brown was already a well-loved member of the school’s community, having worked at White Oak Elementary as a janitor for 15 years. Upon meeting Amos, he made a point of befriending him, saying hello and calling him nicknames such as “Famous Amos.” When Amos started greeting him back, Wood was shocked.
“He wasn’t even saying ‘Daddy’ at that point, so it was really something,” she recalled.
Brown’s influence even helped Amos make friends with his classmates, overall improving his experience in school.
Wood thought it only appropriate that Mr. Brown received recognition for his role in the community.
So when Brown was nominated for the North Carolina’s School Hero award , which would grant him and the school both $10,000 should he win, she rallied the community to give him as many votes as possible.
When he ended up not winning, she was heartbroken.
That wasn’t the end of Wood’s efforts, though. She posted the story on Facebook to an unexpected reaction.
That post quickly spread, and people began asking if they could donate to a fund that could be gifted to Brown instead, which was soon set up. After some time, over $35,000 was raised and given to Mr. Brown on March 20.
“I was very surprised,” Brown explained to TODAY . “I was caught off guard. To see all those people shouting and hollering ‘Mr. Brown, congratulations,’ it was beautiful and it’s hard to explain, but I know this community loves Mr. Brown.”
h/t: Today
