One night at the dinner table my dad said he had gone and heard a speaker. The speakers name was Mike Smith. He said he wished I had been there because he thought I would liked it. Then he told me what the speaker said.

He said he was a cool kid. Then, he moved to Nebraska. When he got there, he was different. He had purple hair and liked to skateboard. He was a weirdo to them. After a while he started to become a cool kid again.

Soon, his father became sick. He wanted to go to college and become an athlete. He went to school early every day to shoot some hoops.

One day he was walking to his locker to get his headphones and passed an autistic kid. That night he asked his mom what to do with that kid. She said to ask him if he wanted to play with him.

The next day he asked him if he wanted to shoot hoops with him. The boy said, “No, I’m good.” He did this this all week. He finally asked his mom what to do. “Mom, I’m trying to be nice but he keeps saying “No, I’m good.” “I don’t think he likes you. I don’t even like you right now.” His mom said “Why?” he asked. “Because you are mean and think your better than everyone else.” That got him thinking. He realized that he needed to become a better person.

When he made it to college, he was practicing when his coach came up to him. “What are you going to do with your life?” He asked. “I don’t know yet, I just want to help people.” “Come with me.” His coach said. “I’ll show you somewhere you can help people.”

He took Mike to tent city. An area under a bridge where homeless people lived in tents. When he got there Mike went up to them and said, “How can I help you?” Then one man said, “Can you give me a pair of socks?” It might sound silly to us because we don’t need to ask for socks, but to homeless people, it is a fair request. They only have one pair of socks. Most homeless people have rotten feet because they can’t change their socks when they get wet. So Mike said, “I think I can help you.” And left. He went to the locker room and got a box of socks. When he got back to tent city, none of the homeless people expected for him to come back. When he got there he started handing out socks to them. That inspired him. He started something like a club. He and some friends would ride around town on skateboards with backpacks full of socks. Then, whenever they see homeless people, they toss them a pair of socks.

Now his business is a worldwide thing. People all over the world do it. A big worldwide business that started because a boy in college, wanted to help people.

You remember that kid I told you about earlier? Well, he was an orphan. Mike adopted him. Now he is Mike’s son/best friend.

Sometimes, we don’t realize how lucky we are to have a roof over our head and food on the table. Sometimes, we take for granted what we have that some other people might not.

Grace