In 2015, school principal Jason Smith met a 12-year-old girl named Raven. She was sitting outside his office after being suspended from the sixth grade.
“She looked like such a sweet, innocent child, sitting there feeling down,” Jason said. “I asked her what had happened, and she told me she threw a cup of yogurt at lunch and got suspended. She was just waiting to be picked up.”
Jason asked if she would ever throw food in a restaurant, and Raven told him she’d never been to one. She also explained that she didn’t really have a family, as she had spent most of her life living in group homes and moving around in the foster care system.
Jason felt like Raven really needed something good to happen to her for once. “She needed someone to help her,” he said.
Jason and his wife, Marybeth, had struggled with infertility for a long time. The moment they met Raven, they both knew she was meant to be part of their family. Raven was grateful to find a loving home, and today, she’s studying social work at the University of Kentucky.
Credit to the respective owner.