The Lesson In The Juice

In our house, Friday nights are Burrito night.  My oldest son has his dance class and, afterward, he and I go pick up burritos in the mission.  Naturally, after dancing enthusiastically for an hour, he’s worked up a powerful thirst.  Sometimes, therefore, I’ll get an agua fresca — a Mexican fruit drink — for him while our food is being made.  Last night, however, he got a lesson instead.


A friend of mine, a kindergarten teacher at one of the poorest schools in San Francisco, has a student fighting cancer.  That’s a terrifying battle to face at any age but at five years old, it must be especially frightening.  Naturally, the little girl wants her mother with her as much as possible, but that’s hard to do when you work for a living.  Nonetheless, her mother, who actually works in the hospital, is doing her best to be there as much as possible.

Staying with her daughter, however, means the mom can’t work and, as far too many of us know first-hand, if you can’t work, you can’t pay rent.  To help out, my friend organized a dance-a-thon fund-raiser at school along with an online campaign to get donations to help the family out.  Naturally, we contributed.

So when my son asked about getting an agua fresca, I told him about the little girl and her situation.  Then I asked him if he wanted to get a drink or help her out.  He chose to have some water and donate to the girl.  We then talked about the idea that if everyone just gave up one drink or coffee or treat each week and instead donated the money, it would make the world a much better place for an awful lot of people.

If you would like to help out Harmonie, you can donate online.

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