It was an innocent question — but it reduced her to tears. Grade school teacher Brooke Goins wrote on Facebook: “Today I cried at work. Not because I hate my job. Today I cried for a child, a child who so innocently talked about food, and the lack of it.” The Tennessee teacher was caught off guard when one of her students asked “when the lady that puts food in his backpack was coming.”
… Turns out he was referring to the school’s guidance counselor, but Goins didn’t know if she’d be in — as it was a short week before fall break. So she asked her student what the guidance counselor gave him that he liked so much. Goins shared, “He looked at me and said, ‘Those little Os” … as in small cans of SpaghettiOs. He told her: “We don’t have those at my house, but when I do have them they give me a warm belly and help me sleep.”
… The student’s words moved Goins beyond tears — and into action. She texted a group of teachers, and they pooled their money to buy the hungry child enough food to last him through his fall break. And Goins and her fellow teachers started a food pantry for students.