Staff Blog: The Wonder Times: 8.8.08

Staff Blog: The Wonder Times

Wondertime staffers share their experience with big issues of the day

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August 8, 2008

Littlest Volunteer Winner's Amazing Act of Kindness

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by Jeff Wagenheim

Come November, when you're reading your copy of Wondertime and get to the article about this year's winners in our annual contest, The Littlest Volunteers, we'd like to imagine you turning to your spouse and saying something like, "This is so inspiring. Let's do a project like this ourselves as a family."

It's a treat for us to know when we've struck a chord with readers — especially with a piece about teaching kids to be better citizens. That's just what happened when we recently received an e-mail from Suzanne Alvarez, whose 6-year-old daughter Gabriella was one of last year's Littlest Volunteers grand prize winners. Gabby, you may recall, was the mastermind of Operation Fluffy (although she wanted to call it Operation Stinky Baby!), which involved collecting some 300 stuffed animals and shipping them to Honduras, where her dad brought them to a school with a lot of young children who had very little.

"I thought you might be interested in knowing the rest of the story from the contest," wrote Suzanne. "Meet a brand new citizen to the United States, Sara Chambers."

Suzanne then told the story of a 12-year-old blind girl who had lived her entire life in an orphanage in China. Her "job" there was to rock the babies. The babies in her care kept changing, as one after another found a family, and one day Sara asked if she could have a family too. The orphanage staff knew an adoption would be a longshot, not only because of the girl's blindness but also her age, but they sent her name to the Central China Adoption Agency anyway.

You can guess what happened.

Sara's adoption wasn't easy, though. "This Mennonite couple from outside of Spokane felt led to adopt her," wrote Suzanne, whose family is also from that part of Washington. "But they had just returned from China with another adoption, and China's rule is you have to wait one year before submitting your paperwork again." Another Chinese rule: Once the child turned 13, she no longer would be eligible to be adopted. The Chamberses were cutting it close. Finally, nine days before Sara turned 13, they received approval for the adoption.

This is where the Alvarez family becomes part of the story. Gabby's grand prize in the Littlest Volunteers contest was $5,000, and she and her family decided to donate it to Small World, the adoption agency through which Gabriella and her sisters once were brought over from China. The agency put the money toward the Chambers' travel costs: two round-trip tickets to China, plus a one-way ticket home. "Who knew that Rob going to Honduras and Gabby doing Operation Fluffy and us winning the Littlest Volunteers contest would have such an impact on someone's life?" wrote Suzanne. "But now there is one girl in the world who got her wish of a family."

Not so fast. The day before the Chamberses were to leave, Sara said she didn't want to be adopted. "After many frantic phone calls back and forth, a Chinese facilitator spoke to Sara on the phone and asked her what was wrong," wrote Suzanne. "Seems she had been told by someone in the orphanage that she was only being adopted so that the Americans could kill her and use her organs."

The frightened child eventually was calmed and reassured, and the Chamberses flew to China to bring her home. It was a difficult trip, as Sara speaks no English and was still one scared girl. Many tears were shed as they boarded the plane. When Sara and the Chamberses arrived in Spokane, Suzanne and her daughters were at the airport to meet them. They posed for the picture you see above." As we stood next to Sara and her new parents," wrote Suzanne, "Gabby reached up and took Sara's hand, and for the first time, Sara smiled. The touch of a little girl to a very scared older girl communicated more than words could ever say."