school busLots of bad news out there. Puddles of it.
But not here.
Not today.
Instead, I humbly present two sweet stories of benevolence and compassion. Chattanooga, you deserve them. Put the madness away. This is March Goodness.
We begin in Avondale, where earlier this week, officials installed a new bus stop crosswalk.
Bright yellow flashers. Buttons on either side to stop traffic. New sidewalk ramps. Big white stripes painted across the road. If crosswalks were people, this is Beyonce.
“It’s beautiful,” said Chris Rolle.
Chris and Cookie Rolle are the retired couple who run a morning breakfast club for local kids. I first met them last August, and fell in love with their work. Each and every school day, in the front yard of their Dodson Avenue home, they serve hot food, snacks and drinks to any and all kids who gather to catch the bus there.
They offer homework help. Coats in the winter. Extra food on Fridays. Hugs, encouragement, wisdom.
Some days, 80 kids show. Some days, they aren’t wearing shoes. Some days, they were up all night because of gunshots. Yet every day, the Rolles love on them. Not long ago, two of the roughest, toughest kids around whispered to the Rolles the three sweetest words ever spoken.
I.
Love.
You.
“It made us cry, hearing those kids say, ‘I love you,'” said Cookie.
Of course, every story needs a villain; last fall, it was the Hamilton County school system, which considered shutting the entire bus stop down.
City Hall got wind. (You did too, and began a strong campaign on the Rolles’ behalf.) Within hours, Mayor Andy Berke had knocked on their door. Soon, City Hall staffers began showing up to help with crack-of-dawn breakfast. Police came. Transportation officials — from here to Nashville — began behind-the-scenes work of putting in a new crosswalk. (This one would cost roughly $17,000, which came from Public Works and Transportation Department budgets.)
Wednesday morning, I got a text from the Rolles.
The crosswalk was open.
“It’s more than a crosswalk,” said Berke. “We want to see kids on full stomachs at school where they can learn more. This crosswalk empowers the Rolles to be even more productive in helping that entire Avondale community.”
The crosswalk represents the best of city government combined with the best of neighborhood activism. The Rolles say the kids love it, as do other Avondale residents.
“We say thank you,” said Chris.
We do too.
***
Since he was a boy, Sultan Raheem has dreamed of America.
He grew up in Kuwait, then moved to Iraq. Then 9/11 came, Saddam fled, and the Americans invaded. Raheem chose sides.
He became a translator for the U.S. military.
Working the gate outside Camp Bravo in Basra, Iraq, he was the Arabic-to-English middleman for American troops. Soldiers there say he and other Iraqis were life-savers.
“They became one of us,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Paul Braun. “We fought next to them, ate next to them, bled with them and in some cases, we died with them.”
After the war, Raheem and his family came to Chattanooga, with help from a refugee agency. He got work in a processing plant, but then came a straitjacket of trouble.
He was diagnosed with leukemia. Then his wife got sick. And a child. He couldn’t work. Had to apply for food stamps. Found bedbugs in their downtown apartment.
Earlier this winter, I wrote his story.
You responded.
“I’m very thankful,” Raheem said on Thursday. “Very, very thankful.”
More than $3,500 in donations poured into a Regions Bank account. Some of you gave furniture. Others wrote letters. A man in Ooltewah heard his story and gave him a basement-bottom price on a trailer. Next week, Raheem and his family are moving into that trailer — it’s a dream, he said — which puts them next door to a good friend he knew from Iraq.
“And it has a playground for the kids,” Raheem said.
The leukemia isn’t making him as sick. He’s planning to return to work, and is considering classes to become a certified nurse assistant. A friend has given him applications to Amazon and Volkswagen.
He asked me to tell you all something.
“Thank you,” he said. “I hope that I can pay something back to the United States and these people.”
You already have, my friend.
Contact David Cook at dcook@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6329. Follow him on Facebook at DavidCookTFP.