The Emmanuel Connection
May 01, 2007
While sophomore Alyssa Hinam was helping out at the student session at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Phoenix, AZ, as part of the Alternative Spring Break program last month, something about her caught the attention of one of the little boys in the program.
Standing next to Afterschool Coordinator Carol Salvatore, the youngster began tugging at her side and pointing towards Hinam, drawn, for some reason, to the blue t-shirt she happened to be wearing.
“He kept telling me that someone had his t-shirt on,” said Salvatore. “I looked down to see he had on a striped shirt and no one else was wearing that shirt, so at first I didn’t get the connection. But of course it’s because his name is Emmanuel. I explained to him about Emmanuel College at which point he said to me, ‘Someday, I’m going to college.’”
Later that evening, sophomore Carolyn Lembo made a point to go over and talk to Emmanuel, who still couldn’t get over seeing his name printed on a shirt.
“He was so excited,” said Lembo. “He kept bragging about the name of our school to all his friends.”
Two days later when the students returned to the program, Emmanuel was one of the first to greet them. Although the students returned to campus just a few days later, the happy and energetic youth stayed in their thoughts, as a group of them pitched in and sent him his very own Emmanuel College t-shirt to remember them by. Needless to say, it made his day.
“It was just a way for us to leave a piece of us with him,” said Hinam. “It’s great to see someone so young with so many dreams and aspirations.”