We can all think back to our childhoods and pinpoint the teachers who most impacted our lives.
Some teachers were the sorts that we’d hope our children never have to encounter, while others we remember for all the best reasons.
Raymond Brown is the sort of school staff member we would love to have known as kids.
He has worked at White Oak Elementary School in Edenton, North Carolina, for 15 years, and has shown kindness to every student, parent and faculty member in that time.
Raymond is completely honest in what he does. His behavior isn’t based on the rewards he hopes to reap – and, in fact, he led a relatively uneventful life until this year.
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But recently, Raymond discovered the sorts of good things that can come your way when you prove yourself worthy.
When the North Carolina School held a Heroes contest, Raymond was nominated. Sadly, he wasn’t chosen as one of the winners, and the $10,000 prize went to someone else.
That’s the nature of competitions – there’s usually always someone who pips you to the post. Raymond was probably proud simply for having been nominated.
For one mom, however, this just didn’t sit right.
Adrian Wood, a mom of 4 children, recalled to TODAY:
“I was heartbroken. I cried, and I don’t cry over competitions. But this wasn’t mine, it was Mr. Brown’s.”
Adrian knows all too well the importance of kind, friendly school staff. Her youngest son, Amos, 7, has autism.
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She admitted:
“Sending Amos to school was such a different path. He was three when he started school. He was in diapers and he didn’t speak. But after Mr. Brown started saying ‘hello’ to him and calling him ‘Famous Amos,’ Amos started saying, ‘Hey Brown,” when he saw him. He wasn’t even saying ‘Daddy’ at that point, so it was really something.”
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Children mimic behavior, so when the other kids saw that Mr. Brown was showing Amos lots of attention, they did the same.
It would have been easy for the students to exclude Amos simply for being different.
Adrian knew herself that Amos was a “hard friend to have” because he “takes more than he gives”.
But Mr. Brown showed the students the right way to behave. He was the man that everyone loved, so when he paid Amos attention, the kids soon followed suit.
Adrian took to social media to express her disappointment when Mr. Brown didn’t win the School Heroes contest.
When she posted to her Facebook blog, Tales of an Educated Debutante, her community of followers wanted to help.
People started to ask if they could donate money to the school custodian, and Adrian loved the idea.
In less than a week, Adrian and her community had donated $35,000.
The special moment arrived: a ceremony was arranged for the community to surprise Mr. Brown with the $35,000 check.
Mr. Brown had been under the impression that he was visiting the waterfront park for a 38th wedding anniversary photoshoot with his family.
Instead, he was met by cheering community members and given a “Mr. Brown” sash to wear over his suit.
In the ceremony, children and teachers paid their respects to Mr. Brown, before he was handed the check by Adrian.
He was clearly in complete shock when the check was given to him, judging by the look on his face!
How does Mr. Brown plan to spend his $35,000 gift?
Apparently, he and his wife hope to travel to see family that they haven’t seen since COVID. His wife wants to do some work on the house, and Mr. Brown wants to spend a little on a work truck.
There’s nobody more deserving of a surprise cash donation than Mr. Brown. You can watch the video of his “award ceremony” just below.
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