Community Love

I have another story about a favorite student. About 10 years ago I ran into her and it was August and we started chatting. It got dark. We stood under the streetlight and kept talking. Then she told me she had been brutally sexually assaulted walking to her car after work. She said her mother and sisters didn't know how to help her. This family did not have a telephone or a car but lived 3 blocks from me. I would leave written messages for her with her mother and older sister.

The next day I remembered Lynne-Marie, another dog loving neighbor 4 blocks away who I know from walking our dogs together for years. She among other things, trains the volunteers for the RAPE CRISIS hotline in one of the tiny towns in Massachusetts. I emailed her and asked her if she would speak to my former student. She said Absolutely.

Then I asked my former student if she would like to meet Lynn Marie who lived between us, in fact 4 blocks from both of us, in the neighborhood cemetery to chat and if she wanted me to be there. Yes please! She said. We made a plan to meet at 2PM in 2 days and the hour came and it was lightly raining and we sat together in the Irish mist and Lynn spoke to her, validated her, healed her. Within the hour my students face and spirit was one of great relief and joy. I walked her home and she was elated and I was blown away. I still get goosebumps writing this story. This is what I love about Woonsocket. It's a real community. My former student is thriving and living her best life.