A few weeks ago I went to a dinner and met Erin Rolandelli.
And, she impressed me and inspired me as much as anyone I’ve ever met.
Growing up as the baby of the family in Greensboro, Erin relished the opportunity to be the teacher when they played school. Then her AP English teacher inspired her to pursue teaching as a career.
In college, the students had to be placed in a classroom to observe and learn from seasoned vets. She was given an ESL (English as a second language) class.
“And it was the best semester ever! I connected with the students out of empathy, by putting myself in their shoes, and for the first time being exposed to the question of, how are they surviving in a world that’s all in English? And, what are we actually doing to help them?”
After getting her master’s degree Erin spent two years in the classroom.
“It was gritty. It was what I expected it to be, and not what I expected it to be, all at the same time.”
One thing that Erin didn’t expect was the federally mandated testing which took her out of the classroom for hours at a stretch to do individual assessments. The lack of funding and available teachers left the classrooms without supervision and halted forward progress of the children for the duration of the testing.
Erin wanted to keep her kids engaged and learning. She was informed budget cuts in the coming year made any improvements impossible.
This led Erin to make the wrenching decision to leave the profession. She needed to find another way to help children without the bureaucracy and its regulations that sometimes to her seemed more harmful than doing nothing at all.
Chais Beloso
One Compassion was founded by Reid and Jaclyn Smith. Board member and acquaintance Chais Beloso thought Erin’s heart and abilities made a good fit with the group and brought her on.
The idea became One Compassion, an organization in Clayton with a looser, less structured mission than many other institutions. The brief comes down to an individual’s need and adjusts accordingly.
One of the things they discovered to be a need and if fulfilled, a game changer for children was mentoring. An adult that children can rely on to have their backs, be a support, but also have expectations for them and hold them accountable.
When each child has someone dedicated to them personally, many of the struggles they face can be identified early and solved or ameliorated. Or at the least, someone is by their side and on their side.
Right now, One Compassion is working to make sure every family in the county has a Christmas. That parents have the joy of providing for their children. What that may look like is individual to each family. To determine needs, Erin works with them, her team, and their resources. It could be funds for groceries, help with gifts, or even a repair to a broken window so the children can be nestled all snug in warm beds.
The completed Christmas project, ready for delivery.
I offer One Compassion, and Erin’s active, vital, personal compassion as an inspiration and if needed, a kick in the pants.
Look around. You can see where your help is needed. Whether it’s time, money, resources, or an invitation to dinner. Whether it’s One Compassion, The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, or the elderly woman at your church with no family and dwindling resources.
Erin desires to bring change to the world, and after spending time with her, I believe she will. The least we can do is bring change to our world.
Thanks for your time, and have a wonderful holiday season and a joyous and peaceful new year.
Contact Erin and One Compassion at info@onecompassion.com.
About twenty Christmas’ ago I was working in a Waldenbooks at the mall. A grandmother, her children, and her approximately ten-year-old grandchild came in told me they were looking for a book as a gift to a family friend.
With a keening howl that sounded like it was violently flayed from her very soul, she responded, “But I haaaate booooks!”
In retrospect it was one of the saddest moments I’ve ever experienced. In this child’s entire life, no one, not family member nor teacher had helped her discover how magical books could be.
I believe that not exposing a child to books and encouraging them to read is a form of child abuse. It will handicap them for life.
And, if children’s literature is terra incognita for you, I have some reading level-based suggestions.
The Sesame Street Dictionary by Linda Heyward. This is a terrific tool for learning to read. All the words are charmingly illustrated. Kids will spend hours teaching themselves to read by accident.
It’s crazy old school, but the Bobbsey Twins, by Laura Lee Hope.
Experienced Child readers: The Great Brain series by John D. Fitzgerald: From the point of view of his little brother, the Brain’s an adolescent confidence man living in the late 1880’s.
The Betsy series, by Maud Hart Lovelace span all reading levels. They start with Betsy as a very young girl told in a simple picture book, and progress in age and level until Betsy is a married woman. She’s one of my most treasured childhood friends.
A childhood deprived of books is a tragedy. To help instill the love of the printed word is a huge, heroic act that will forever change a child’s life.
To become a hero, Hercules had to kill a bunch of stuff, clean the stables of 1000 cows, and steal fashion accessories from an Amazonian princess.
Thanks for your time.
There are two animal riddles from childhood that I still remember.
“You tune a piano, you don’t tune a fish.”
Okay, fess up. Did you just hear the squeal of breaks in your head, or the screech of a needle being drug across an album? What the what? How is it that I love tuna fish, but have no love for tuna?
On the other hand, tuna fish has first names like Star-Kist, Bumble Bee, and Chicken of the Sea. It’s processed in canneries near the docks, and can be purchased in those cans for 1-5$.
Occasionally as a child, I’d dine at a friend’s house and we’d eat tuna fish. Every once in a while, it would be fancy; solid white albacore in water. And once or twice, I’d hit the tuna fish trifecta: solid white albacore, in water, and with chopped white onion. I love the crunch of the onion, with the tiny bite of heat and touch of sweet.
One of my favorite sandwiches starts with tuna fish. It’s a little “unique”, but if you put aside your preconceived tuna fish notions and are open to the unusual, I think you’ll like it.
And that creamy white spread from Philly is the only type cheese allowable. It may come from a can, but it’s still fish, y’all. And I may live in North Carolina, but I’m still part Italian, youse guys.
Thanks for your time.
She also had a spine-chilling collection of threats and reprimands that were as frightening as they were creative.
I asked Dad if there were any that Granny used on him and his siblings, that he didn’t employ. He told me one, “If you don’t stop crying, I’ll give you something to cry about.”
And because the nut doesn’t fall too far from the tree, I have come up with my own phrase that I use when feigning outrage with my own little nut, The Kid. And a couple I keep in reserve.
Never having owned or operated a cell makes my threat something less than viable.
Intimidating, no?
bull city mom 