My great grandpa new me since the day I was born. He was the one that showed me how important is to take care of people in need.  When I think of the word great grandpa I think of a man that is brave, and fights for what he wants such as my great grandpa. My great grandpa showed me how to appreciate the things I have in the world.  My great grandpa was one of my favorite heroes.  I was really close to him, he always gave me recommendations and showed me new things.  I remember that he was always careful and always took care of people. I say he is the best great grandpa but maybe you are thinking that is your great grandpa the best one. I remember that he always gave things to the poor children, for example he went to schools and made people bring things that they don’t use for example toys, clothes and even shoes. I know by heart that my great grandpa was not to tall but not to short, he was perfect.

I remember it was a cloudy day, were you can’t see the blue sky.  I remember so much and it seems like it was yesterday that my dad was waking us up, my sister and me. I remember it was a Sunday morning in December and my dad woke us up at 7:00 am (I usually wake up at 11:00am).  I got really mad because he didn’t tell us that day before he just came in and woke us up.

“Today you are going to go help poor children that are in need,” my dad said.
I was not excited about that plan although my great grandma, the wife of my great grandpa, was planning it, so I didn’t had an option. I had to go.

“ There are families that are very poor and need our help.  Be kind to them and smile at them, you will love the experience.” My mom said while my dad was waking my sister and me up.

Deep in my heart I didn’t want to go to help the children, but I just acted like if I was really excited about that plan.
I opened the door of the car and got in, then I slammed the door of the car.

“Boom,” the door slammed very loudly.
“Why did you do that Valeria that was very bad of you.” My dad said shouting at me.
I did not say a word.
While we were in the car there was a very long awkward silence, not anyone was saying a word. Then one of my sisters asked,
“In how much time are we going to get there?  It is a very long way.” She complained.
“ I agree.” I interrupted.
“In 30 minutes,” My dad said.
“Ugh,” we companied.
When we got there, I looked at the place and the first thought I had was “how can people live here?”  Then I realized I am really fortunate that I have a place to live and I have food to eat. When we arrived to the place where we were going to help, then my dad received a phone call, It was my uncle.

“ Hello?” My dad said, we were all silence as my dad spoke with him. “What?” my dad said shocked, I could see his excitement fade away as his voice broke “ Thank you.”

“I think something is wrong,” My sister told me in a quiet voice and he hung up.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Its my grand father, he just passed away this morning.”
The face of my dad didn’t seem the same, he was sad.

I nodded my head. I started thinking of all the memories and what he said to me.  One thing that he always said to me was that giving is better receiving.  Then my sister asked.
“Is my great-grandma coming?”
“ No she won’t come.” My dad said with a sad voice.

Then my thoughts changed, I was going to make my great grandma happy because I was going to help the children with respect and enthusiasm. Then I thought, why do people have to die. Then I thought the person that organized this every year, the person that works every day for this event, the person that asked for the toys after Christmas and before was my great grandma and now she is not coming. That broke my heart.

Soon we started to help the people in need.  I was really surprised how the people lived with almost no food nor clothes. While I was giving the toys to the poor people, the kids smile and told me, “thank you a lot”.  That made me feel good because I learned that they were happy with what they had.  While I was giving the poor people toys, with every toy I gave them, I remembered my great grandpa. He always gave and gave and he helped many people in need. When we finished we got in the car and the first thought I had was wow it was a really great experience helping people in need.

After all I think that I will love to go this year to help the poor children.   I learned from this experience because some mornings I am mad because there is not the food I like in my house but in the end the children don’t have anything to eat, and even though sometimes I don’t eat the food they give me, I just waste it. After all I think that I am really lucky to have a house, food, a good school and the most important thing in the world I have a family. So after this experience my thoughts change and now every time I know that I will not eat all of my food I just serve what I will eat. After all I think it was a great experience.