On June 27th I spent the evening at the Sacred Heart Festival in East Boston. Young and old enjoyed coming to our booth to learn about our organization and the work we're doing in East Boston. They guessed how much sugar there is in a 20 oz. ginger ale and tried out the large, colorful hoop; the young man shown on the left proved he could hoop and skateboard at the same time! The best part of the night for me, though, was when a woman came up to talk to me before the festival had really started. She looked over our scorecards and I talked about our mission and she said, "I really wish you had been in my daughter's school when she was younger." She explained that her daughter is now in middle school and is severely overweight. I discussed ways her family could tackle the problems of not enough time to shop for and prepare meals and of working with a small budget while providing healthy food and opportunities for exercise. It's a hard battle that requires concentrated effort and I only wish we had been in her school. I wish that her school had provided physical education, health education, and programs like ours so that she would have no battle to fight.
It is her wish - that we had been in her daughter's school - that motivates and inspires us to do what we do.
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