Author: Understanding Compassion

A kind young football star is using his time to practice kindness and make life better for foster children.

Malachi Coleman is a high school football player who recently announced he would be playing for a major college football team, but outside of sports, Malachi has a passion for helping children in foster care.

Malachi had a difficult childhood. Twelve years ago, he and his younger sister were left on a street corner by his mother who had severe substance abuse issues and could no longer care for them. His father had passed and Malachi and his sister ended up in foster care, yet they continued to suffer abuse after having being placed. Malachi and his sister were eventually adopted by a loving family, the Colemans, but the trauma he had endured was very severe.

“He was a broken kid,” said his dad, Craig Coleman.

For many years Malachi grew up with his emotions closed off, feeling cold to the world, as is a natural response for many children who suffer traumatic childhoods. Yet as time went on with his new family, Malachi began to understand that he was loved, and that he could trust this love.

“This family decided to stick with me. They saw I was a struggling kid and I deserved a family that loved me. And when I saw that I had that, and that I actually was loved, that’s when I started to change my perspective on things,” Malachi said.

When in high school, his mother, Miranda Coleman, wanted to plant further seeds of love in her son and had a several hour long conversation with him about how she insisted he would “do something selfless for others.”

“He lived for today and only today and nothing mattered,” Miranda shared. “I threw out at least 100 ideas of things he could do, and exasperated, I finally said, ‘What about holding a door? Can you hold one door for one person?’ And finally, he was like, ‘I can hold a door.’”

Malachi held a door open the next day for someone at school. He then held the door open for everyone at his church during a congregation, and he continued to hold doors open for strangers he encountered each day. This small gesture began to open his heart, and it helped him realize the joy of simple acts of kindness for others.

“Once I realized how good it makes me feel to help other people, it’s just something that I knew I wanted to continue in my life,” Malachi said.

Having gone through the foster care system, Malachi has a deep compassion for children without parents and without homes, so he created a nonprofit called Fly Like Chi which provides opportunities for foster children to engage in sports and various activities with loving role models present.

“Malachi, known as “Chi” among his friends, is a phenomenal high school athlete from Lincoln, NE,” flylikechi.org explains. “Having grown up in the foster care system, Chi understands the challenges and hardships foster children face daily. Adopted by loving parents who showed him the transformative power of love, Chi is now on a mission to give back to kids in care. Using his platform and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) proceeds, he supports local non-profits and foster care organizations through Fly Like Chi Foundation to provide foster children with opportunities to thrive in sports, arts, and more.”

Malachi is helping foster children discover their hope and passion for living, giving them an “opportunity to discover their passions, develop their skills, and build their confidence and self-esteem.”

So far Malachi has helped make life better for more than 120 foster children, with many more to come.

You are Loved.

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After a kind school custodian helped a mom’s autistic son go from being friendless to being popular, she raised more than $35,000 for him.

Raymond Brown has been the custodian at White Oak Elementary School in Edenton, North Carolina for more than 15 years. He is a warmhearted person who always makes time for any child that wants to talk with him.

“I’ve witnessed the way Mr. Brown speaks to visitors and teachers. The way he’s never in a hurry or too busy to talk to the children,” shared Adrian Wood, a mother whose children have attended White oak Elementary. “The way he’s willing to clean up bathroom accidents, or help me post stuff, or set up for PTA events.”

One of Adrian’s children, Amos, has autism and was nonverbal, but Mr. Brown’s warmheartedness inspired her child to speak with him. He would often say hello to Amos, and would call him ‘Famous Amos’ around the other children.

“Sending three typical kids to school; you’re sad, but you’re excited for them,” Adrian said. “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.”

All of the children loved Mr. Brown, so when he gave special attention to little Amos, the other children also wanted to be friends with him.

“You have this man that everybody loves suddenly paying attention to this little boy. Amos is a hard friend to have. He takes a lot more than he gives and that’s tough for children. But those kids saw that he was popular and loved and they started fighting over who would get to hold Amos’ hand on the way to the classroom. It meant so much to me for him to be so favored by the other children at school, and Mr. Brown had a big hand in that.”

Mr. Brown was nominated for the North Carolina Schools Heroes contest, and when another nominee won the title and $10,000 prize, Adrian decided that she wanted to setup her own fundraiser and award ceremony for him. She wrote a post online and shared her story about how Mr. Brown had helped her son Amos, and kind hearts from around the community donated more than $35,000 to support the beloved and kindhearted custodian.

They held a ‘Famous Amos’ award day, and many people from the community shared how much they have appreciated Mr. Brown’s kind deeds over the years.

The principal of White Oak Elementary, Michelle Newsome, shared how lucky they are to have him at their school.

“He’s just a gem and we are so lucky to have him here,” she said. “There isn’t a child in this building that doesn’t know who Mr. Brown is and that Mr. Brown cares for them and loves them.”

A local police officer also shared how much he’s appreciated Mr. Brown’s kindness towards him over the years.

“You know Mr. Brown, I can say this,” he said. “Meeting you, almost three years ago, you remind me of my grandfather. I can tell you that my grandfather was a preaching man, and all of the inspiration and the conversations we had, and seeing you at the football games and coming to sit down and just talking to you, I really appreciate you being a pillar for this community. There should be several Mr. Browns throughout this community, and I appreciate you. The only thing I can really say to reiterate this is… well done, old faithful sir, I appreciate you and I really really love you brother.”

As Adrian shared how Mr. Brown had helped her son Amos, tears filled his eyes.

Amos then walked up and presented Mr. Brown with a $35,000 award.

“I was very surprised,” said Mr. Brown. “To see all those people shouting and hollering ‘Mr. Brown, congratulations,’ it was beautiful… it’s hard to explain…”

Watch This Heartwarming Video Of Mr. Brown Receiving His Well Deserved Award:

You are Loved.

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When a teacher was grading his exams, he noticed a kind student ask to share some of his points with a classmate who scored the lowest.

Winston Lee was grading his exams at Letcher County Central High School in Kentucky, and as he got to the last bonus question on one student’s exam, it had a kind request.

“If you could, can you give my bonus points to whoever scores the lowest?” the student wrote on his test.

Winston said he was “taken aback” by the student’s request, as he had never before seen a student want to share his points to help another classmate. Being moved by the young man’s compassion, he decided to agree with his request and gave the 5 bonus points to a student in need.

“Have to shout this out,” Winston shared in a post online. “Had honestly never seen this… One of my guys, a straight A+ guy, offers up his 5 bonus points to someone in need, anyone. Totally offering up what is rightfully his, his earning, to any peer that may have been struggling especially hard the day of the test. He didn’t care if he considered them a friend, didn’t care if they were cool, didn’t matter to him what situation had caused them to score lower, he just wanted to help, be kind, commit a loving act.”

Winston hopes that sharing his student’s kind request will inspire others to be “a little more like this young man.”

“I was pleasantly surprised,” Winston said of when he graded his exams. “I took it as a really compassionate, loving and kind act. He is the type of kid that would often show compassion in the classroom.”

“Never in my teaching experience have I heard of a student willingly give away something they had earned to allow an extra opportunity for someone else. So, the ultimate message is to take from his example and pay it forward.”

You are Loved.

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A kind woman from Johnson Country, Iowa, has helped care for and raise more than 600 children over the past five decades.

75-year-old Linda Herring and her husband Bob began fostering in the 1970s after Linda’s best friend shared with her the joys she had helping care for children who were in need of love, and a family.

“My best friend was doing foster care for teenage girls and I thought, ‘Well, that would be nice to do the same,’ but I wanted little kids, so, I talked to the Department of Human Services and agreed to take kids with medical needs,” Linda said.

Her granddaughter, Amber Herring, is deeply appreciative and proud of her grandmother.

“My grandma has always put everyone else before herself,” Amber said. “She has been my hero since I was just a little girl and I’m so thankful I get to have her as my grandmother. It takes a special person to open their heart and home to children. It has been a lifestyle for them that not everyone can do, but their dedication to children in need has always been evident. They simply provided them love when the kids needed it most.”

Linda has mostly fostered children with special medical needs, who often require more care and attention than other children. She is known for having a garage full of bins stacked to the ceiling filled with nice clothes for both boys and girls, organized by size. Linda has also been a volunteer first responder for nearly 50 years.

For Linda, giving love to children in need has been one of her life’s passions. She was recognized by Johnson County for being an outstanding foster mom and for having fostered more than 600 children.

“The Department of Human Services could call Linda in the middle of the night to take a child, and she would meet anywhere to get a child,” an official at Johnson County shared.

Linda has biological children of her own, and has also adopted three of the children she has fostered. One of her adopted children, Dani, is fully dependent on others for care, and medically was given a short life expectancy after birth. She is today 29 years old.

Her adopted son, 39-year-old Anthony Herring, came to Linda’s home when he was just 6 months old.

“I appreciate being adopted even more today as a parent than I did when I was a child,” Anthony said. “I’m forever grateful for the life I was given. She and Dad have both taught me that family isn’t determined by blood, it’s who you have in your life to love.”

Anthony has watched his mom include hundreds of children in her boundless compassion and love.

“It’s hard to say in words her impact. She was always available and ready for a child in need. These kids were usually taken from a traumatic situation and she’d take them in, provide a warm bed, clean clothes, warm meals, and love,” he said.

Linda’s granddaughter Amber was inspired by her grandma to begin fostering herself.

“I’ve had 22 foster children and have adopted 3 of them,” Amber said. “Like my grandparents, I tend to take children with medical and/or special needs who are harder to place in a foster home.”

Tonya Stratton’s mother was fostered by Linda, and she shared how Grandma Linda has stayed in their lives.

“Most foster kids grow up, move away and might never be heard of again,” Tonya wrote in a post online. “My mother however was not one of those children. She forever became part of the Herring family as did my father, myself and my siblings. Bob and Linda Herring are Grandpa Bob and Grandma Linda. They always have been my entire life. Years and years of wiping tears, blowing noses, changing diapers and caring for a child that is not even yours… the gratitude I have for this family is beyond what I can express. I love them dearly.”

For Linda, she loved each and every child that stayed with her and became family.

“I cried when the kids would leave my home, no matter how long they had been there,” Linda said. “It was so hard for me to say goodbye to them. I always questioned, ‘Why do I keep doing this?’ because it was never easy to say goodbye to a child. But I kept doing it because I had so much love to give to these children in need.”

“If no one else can love them or take care of them, I will.”

What an inspiring and beautiful soul.

You are Loved.

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When a kind man saw an elderly woman pushing her walker loaded with groceries home on a hot day, he stopped his car and helped her drive them home.

Jibril Jennings, a U.S. airman in Oklahoma City, was driving near Interstate 240 on a hot day when he noticed an elderly woman pushing her walker on the side of the road. Her walker was loaded with bags of groceries, and temperatures were over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

“There was a human being in the middle of the road that obviously needed help, and everyone was just driving past,” he said.

Realizing how much she was struggling, Jibril stopped his car on the side of the road and asked the 71-year-old woman, Janice Hall, if she would like a ride home with her groceries. While Janice says that she enjoys the exercise, she was touched by the kind uniformed man’s offer and took the him up on it.

The two shared a nice connection right away, and had a lovely conversation in the car.

“Once I got into the car, she immediately started talking,” Jibril said. “She reminded me of my grandma, she started telling me about her day.”

“I went from the post office to Walmart, then from Walmart to my bank,” Janice shared.

While Jibril was helping load Janice’s groceries into the trunk, a person in a car behind them, Amber Roy, was moved by his kindness and recorded the special moment on her phone.

“This airman just pulled over to help this elderly lady walking with her groceries in 101 degree weather and took her to her destination!! Omg my heart is melting!!! There are good people left in this world!!’ God bless you airman!!!” Amber wrote in a post online.

Millions of hearts online have appreciated Jibril’s kindness for Janice.

“That man was really a sweet guy, I just couldn’t believe it,” Janice later shared. “I told him he deserved a hug. I just gave him a great big ‘ol hug and thanked him. Then he went on his way.”

Jibril was humble when later asked why he helped the elderly woman, and just said that no one should be forgotten or ignored.

“Don’t let anyone be forgotten, don’t let anyone be ignored,” he said.

You are Loved.

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