By Packing Two School Lunches, This Mom Is Paying It Forward in an Epic Way

Hollee Actman Becker
Updated
Josette Duran/Facebook
Josette Duran/Facebook

I'll admit it: I HATE packing school lunches. There's just something about the monotony of it that makes me feel like I'm stuck in a real-life version of the movie Groundhog Day. And judging from the convos I've had with some of my other mom friends, I'm pretty sure I'm not alone.

But after hearing about Albuquerque mom Josette Duran, who has been sending in two lunches a day for her son Dylan since the beginning of the school year, I realize I've been viewing the whole food-packing thing all wrong. Why? I'll let the mother-son convo Josette recounted on Facebook explain it:

Dylan: Mama can you make me TWO lunches today?

Me: Are you not getting full boo?

Dyl: Yes Mom, it's for this boy. He only eats a fruit cup for lunch can you make him lunch too? I don't think he has lunch money.

Wow! What a sweet, compassionate request! And one that Josette—who once lived in her car with Dylan—took on wholeheartedly after discovering the boy had a single mom who had recently lost her job.

"This hits home to me because a few years ago, me and my son were homeless," she explained on Facebook. "I was living in my car and I was washing him in bathrooms. And we didn't have food."

So Josette has been packing the little guy a meal every day for the past few months. When the boy's mom found out what Josette was doing, she tried to pay her back. "She says, 'I know this isn't much, but I just got a job, and I know you've been feeding my son,'" Josette explained on Facebook.

But the sympathetic sandwich maker wouldn't hear of it. And later, when the girls' volleyball team Josette coaches raised more than $400 to pay her back, she turned that money down too. Instead, she donated it to the school cafeteria, in order to pay up all the past due accounts for all the kids who need lunch.

"Now nobody in that school owes any money," Josette explained through tears in a Facebook video. "And now everyone can eat."

A truly incredible story...talk about paying it forward! If we could all help others who are down on their luck the way this amazing mama has, the world would truly be a better place. So the next time I start sighing while packing my kids' school lunches, I will recall Josette's kind heart and generosity, and remember that just being able to give my kids a meal every day is a gift.

Hollee Actman Becker is a freelance writer, blogger, and a mom. Check out her website holleeactmanbecker.com for more, and then follow her on Twitter at @holleewoodworld.