The super volunteer who gave little kids the BEST souvenir EVER
Good morning, friends! This is Tennessean storytelling columnist Brad Schmitt, super psyched to have met this Vanderbilt student just a few days ago.
Connor Bosse is the Vanderbilt football team's favorite hype man. 📣
The college senior, who lives with cerebral palsy, also serves as the team's assistant equipment manager. Players and coaches, though, value his high-fives and encouraging words more than the tasks he does.
"Any time I see Connor, I know I'm going to get good positive energy from him," football team safety Maxwell Worship told me. "That's what he brings to everyone, every time on the practice field."
Check out the full story here.
Let's get to the rest of this week's good news, a tribute to some wonderful volunteers in Middle Tennessee.
She gave those tiny tots the best souvenirs EVER
OK, parents, as your tots grew up, you went to dozens of plays and concerts and other performances, right?
Imagine if a professional photographer took pictures of your kids performing. Now imagine the photographer created personalized books for each kid with their pictures in the book!
That's exactly what Nashville photographer Lisa Link did for pre-K students at Cambridge Early Learning Center in Antioch. Lisa, a former longtime elementary school teacher, started volunteering to read for small fries through the Nashville nonprofit Book'Em to get her kid fix.
When kids performed the Three Piggy Opera, Lisa brought in her camera. She turned those pics into books, and the kids absolutely loved them.
"Hey look!" they shouted at each other, holding the books high, "this is ME!"
That awesome project is one of dozens of things Lisa has done for Book'Em.
"She's just amazing," Book'Em executive director Melissa Spradlin told me. "She has been a jewel of a volunteer." 🤛
'He did everything'
Our next volunteer spent time this summer (and beyond) at the Raphah Institute, which hopes to disrupt youth violence and reduce the number of kids locked up in juvenile detention.
In fact, Raphah Institute is one of the coolest nonprofits in Nashville. Staff members and volunteers get kids who've harmed people together with the very people they harmed. Executive director Travis Claybrooks, a former Metro police officer, emailed me to tell me about one of those volunteers.
"Meet our super-volunteer Pai Masavisut. Pai is a Master of Divinity student at Vanderbilt University. He worked as an intern this past summer. He did everything from research to case management," Claybrooks wrote.
"After his internship concluded, he decided to stay on with us to continue working on a Restorative Justice case with one of our RJ Facilitators, even amid his academic work.
"He is thoughtful and contemplative, frequently challenging others to consider other angles. He brings a safe, stable, nurturing quality to his relationships with our program participants.
"Pai is our super-volunteer."
Heck yeah, Pai! 👍
Reuniting a veteran with his family — after 30 years
Another amazing nonprofit is Reboot Recovery, a peer support group that helps combat veterans and their spouses deal with trauma and other challenges.
Retired Brentwood couple Harold and Nancy Rodruiguez have been leading groups for seven years, serving at least 100 veterans so far.
They have the resume to do it: Harold is Navy veteran and Nancy worked in the civil service.
The couple has countless stories but the one that touches them the most — the Rodruigezes worked with a Vietnam veteran and helped him reconnect with his family after 30 years of estrangement.
That veteran is now a terrific grandfather to his grandkids.
Thank you for your service! 🎖️
This couple has volunteered, well, everywhere
Here's another incredible retired couple in Brentwood, Deb and Steve LaForge, who found each other later in life because of their mutual love of diving. Seems like they also have a mutual love of helping other folks.
Here is a partial list:
Building Habitat for Humanity homes around Middle Tennessee for more than 15 years
Building homes in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake
Volunteering in disaster areas with Hope Force International in across the southeastern U.S. and in Haiti, the Philippines, Nepal, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Romania and Ukraine.
Shipping medical equipment to healthcare facilities in underserved countries through Denver-based nonprofit Project C.U.R.E.
Hosting homeless residents during winter months at their church, Woodmont Christian Church, in conjunction with Room in the Inn.
Are ya worn out yet reading about all they do? Imagine doing it!
A salute to Deb and Steve. Maybe they should get together with their Brentwood neighbors Harold and Nancy Rodruiguez, and the four of them could rule the volunteer world!
What do you do to serve our community? Send me a quick email to brad@tennessean.com. I'd love to hear about it!
Thank you!
Thank you for reading The Good News with Brad Schmitt. We'd love to have your friends sign up for this weekly emailed newsletter.
And I'd love to hear about any good news in your corner of Tennessee. Just shoot me an email.
Friends, FYI, you can catch me between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. today on radio station 94 The Fish with Doug Griffin and Jayme Summers. They love my fave Nolensville Road restaurant, Edessa, so we're gonna get along just fine. (Doug can put down some kebobs, y'all!)
Until next week, here are some more feel-good stories to dig into below. 👋
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: The super volunteer who gave little kids the BEST souvenir EVER
