A school custodian who assisted a child with autism through his school has been awarded $35,000 after it was raised by the mother of the boy he looked after while attending the school.
Raymond Brown has been working as a custodian at White Oak Elementary School in Edenton, North Carolina, for 15 years and was always willing to help anyone who needs it, parents and students alike.
Adrian Wood, whose 4 children attended the school, one of which, Amos, has autism, raised the money after she nominated him for the North Carolina Schools Heroes contest, which carried a $10,000. Unfortunately, Raymond did not win the contest, so she decided to raise the money herself and surprise him with it.
Adrian said of Raymond:
"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. The way he's willing to clean up bathroom accidents or help me post stuff on the walls or set up for PTA events."
"Sending three typical kids to school — you're sad, but you're excited for them. 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. 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 favoured by the other children at school, and Mr. Brown had a big hand in that."
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Michelle Newsome, the principal at the school, said of Raymond:
"Mr. Brown is really, truly so deserving of all of this and then some. He's our rock-steady fella here at White Oak... he's just a gem and we are so lucky to have him here. 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."
Raymond says he was delighted to receive the gift and said:
"My wife has a little bit of plans for it. We'll probably travel and see some of our family that we haven't seen since COVID. And she wants to do some work on the house — pull some carpet out and get a bigger porch. I just want a used work truck for myself."
[h/t: Upworthy]
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