They Made Me Cry - Again
I had the honor to be a Table Captain for this mornings fundraiser breakfast for the Atlanta Children's Shelter.
Last year my friend Stacy Williams invited me to sit at her table. Besides the amazing people that I got to meet, I got to hear stories of moms who were homeless for various reasons, who had children to care for and needed a lift. These are educated, caring, wonderful women who hit a tough spot in their life and the shelter was able to help them through it.
That is a wonderful mission. However what hooked me last year was when I learned that the child care center is NAEYC accredited.
I was very fortunate to have my oldest son in a NAEYC accredited school until we moved to Atlanta. When he was in a day care that was not NAEYC accredited it was a huge difference, so much so that we made many sacrifices to find the budget to get him back in to a NAEYC accredited school. The same experience with my younger son in that I immediately made sure his day care was NAEYC accredited but when the school changed owners and they chose not to renew the accreditation, the care and education noticeably suffered. I know first hand the quality, the cost, and the commitment it takes to have a NAEYC accredited child care center and I am amazed that the Atlanta Children's Shelter makes that commitment for the families who are going through a tough time.
As they played the video, I sat there fighting back the tears. Not just because there is a wonderful organization uplifting our society, not just because over the past year I have been able to be a part of their progress, but because this morning, as table captain, I was surrounded by people who were there because I invited them. People I wanted to share this experience with. People who I know would be touched this year the way I was last year. Today I got to pay it forward and that was truly an amazing experience.
Thank you:
Joe Koufman
Jeffrey Gold
Clint Bailey
Paul Terlmizian
Kyle Young
Alison Ilg
Kristin Colier
for sharing this with me this morning.

