From Vermont to Texas: It started with an idea
June 5, 2020 | By Katie Martin
Hadley Gilson. Courtesy Photo.
Like many 10-year-olds this spring, Hadley Gilson of Waterbury Center found herself home doing schoolwork online as her parents continued to work and her activities and playdates with friends were canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Her aunt in Texas helped Hadley find some fun online activities that soon got her thinking about what she might do to make a positive change in the world during this time.
Little did she imagine that within just a few weeks, an idea Hadley had would lead to 12,000 meals being donated to the Central Texas Food Bank in Austin and land $1,000 contribution for the program she joined from her home in Waterbury.
Hadley called it an awesome experience. “I felt like I was going to cry,” she said in an interview last month. “Really excited that a random 10-year-old in Vermont can help people all the way down in Austin. That’s kind of crazy.”
Hadley’s story began in early April when she decided to join Literacy to Life LIVE, an online writing program run by Paramount Education, the family and education arm of the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas.
The program involves elementary-school-age students from across the nation to contribute story ideas with the potential to get published. The program offers online lessons weekly to inspire students to write creative and original stories. The stories selected are then acted out and put online for students to enjoy seeing their work come to life.
Each week, Hadley and her virtual classmates brainstormed stories based on a theme that students were given as a prompt.
The theme that took off for Hadley was “How to make the world a better place.” Hadley came up with the idea she described as “Enough Food For Everyone.” The group picked it for that week’s story and created “Oscar the Pigeon Clones Food for the World.”
The short story’s main character is a shape-shifting pigeon who wanted everyone to have access to food. The pigeon doesn’t have enough food for everyone in the world who was hungry, so he invents a copier that can clone everyone’s favorite food.
Hadley was excited that her story theme was selected and expanded by her peers. But she was even more excited when an Austin-based company took notice of the story and decided to get involved.
Life imitates art
People at UBEO Business Services, a Texas technology company that works with copiers, printers and more, were inspired by the children’s collaborative story. They responded by making a generous donation to the Central Texas Food Bank and sent $1,000 to the Paramount Education Program.
“While UBEO state-of-the-art copiers and printers don’t clone real food like Oscar the Pigeon does, they are doing the next best thing by making a donation today resulting in 12,000 meals to our friends at the Central Texas Food Bank,” Paramount Education said in announcing the development on May 1. “We’re proud to utilize UBEO technology in our theatres and thrilled YOUR story inspired them to donate to central Texans in need!”
Paul Gaither is the food bank’s marketing and communications director. He thanked UBEO business services for their generosity – especially in the time of need during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A donation that results in 12,000 meals is important to us at any time, but especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Food Bank is seeing unprecedented demand for our services and serving almost twice as many more clients than usual,” wrote Gaither in an email to the Waterbury Roundabout.
Gaither added that in a normal month, the food bank serves an average of 184,000 people across its 21-county service area. In April alone it served 345,000 people, he said.
“Many of these folks are turning to us for the first time as a result of the pandemic and donations like this ensure that we have food to give them,” Gaither wrote.
Long distance, close connection
Looking back on the past two months, Hadley’s mom Becky Gilson said the writing program has made a big difference in how their family weathered the Stay Home, Stay Safe period.
“We were really struggling when schools first closed,” she said. She and her husband were still trying to work full time with Hadley home full-time as well. “I was stinking at both,” she quipped.
Gilson’s sister in Texas, a textbook editor, wanted to help and discovered Story Wranglers. Before long Hadley and her Aunt April were online together working on math and French and the writing program, which was an instant hit.
“She and April would both login and Hadley would participate in the story writing. April said she was so impressed by how quickly Hadley engaged with the other children and the educator. She was so eager and excited to share her ideas,” Gilson said. “Every week after Story Wranglers, they would video conference and chat about the session.”
Literacy for Life LIVE was the online piece that also made use of the Paramount’s in-person program, Story Wranglers, where the theatre has actors bring children’s stories to life.
Hadley, who is in fourth grade, admitted that writing wasn’t exactly her favorite activity before. “I’ve done four weeks of workshops with Story Wranglers…writing isn’t exactly my thing, but this is fun because you get help from Mr. Mitch and other kids. Everyone works together to make the story. He also teaches us different steps to writing: brainstorm, first draft, revise, and publish.”
‘Oscar the Pigeon Clones Food for the World.’ Photo courtesy Paramount Education
That matches up with the seven-week program’s own description as a way for youngsters to learn the foundations of creative writing through workshops designed to engaged and improve students writing skills, and help with confidence and creative storytelling.
“I go every week and there are about 40-50 children who show up. I like giving my ideas and I REALLY like when my ideas get chosen!” Hadley said.
Gilson said she’s also watched her daughter and sister grow closer from this experience. “There is a lot of distance between Vermont and Texas, and we can’t visit as much as we’d like. But because of this situation, we have found some new ways of staying close with our family,” she said.
Reflecting on the inspirational bird story, Hadley said it would be tough to pick which of her favorite foods she would clone if she had the same powers as Oscar the Pigeon. ”OHHHHH that’s a toughie. Maybe some good German sausage. My dad sometimes gets some from a German Market in Massachusetts,” she said.
Gilson also noted that she was pretty sure the seed for Hadley’s “Enough Food For Everyone” came from attending a Rise Against Hunger event at Harwood Union High School last year.
“I asked her if that may have had anything to do with her idea. Like a typical 10-year-old, she thought for a second and said, ‘Yeah, probably! When are they doing that again? I loved that!”
Katie Martin is a freelance journalist and a member of the Waterbury Select Board.