I met this lovely woman last night. She came to learn how our community is investing in the school success of our kids. She's pursuing an associate degree at a community college in search of a new direction for her life. She sat in on a new PEAK learning session designed to help parents navigate our schools more effectively on behalf of their kids.

That's where I met her. At one point, participants were invited to share seven things they had in common. This woman and I came from very different backgrounds, but here's what we discovered. We both lived in Chicago at one time. We were both parents, grandparents, workers, our kids played card games when they were little. That was six things.

 

And then, my new friend shared that her husband died in April, and that she is living into a new and difficult normal. We discovered a seventh thing - the painful realization that we would never hear our husbands' voices again or share their daily banter - often about dumb stuff. Her husband had been ill and unable to work before he died, she said, but he always had dinner ready when she came home from work. So did mine. Those were the eighth and ninth things. The tenth was our discovery of the healing gift of community.

A huge thank you to all who contributed to a very successful 2017 Great Expectations campaign.

• Thanks to 322 donors, we raised $225,425 to fund early childhood care and education, out-of-school learning opportunities, mentoring, homework clubs and more.
• Thanks to you, nearly 800 kids went back to school with backpacks stuffed with brand new school supplies.
• You are showing up for kids! At the Great Expectations Breakfast, 101 of the 230 attendees signed up to volunteer.