{"id":1389,"date":"2017-04-26T21:27:28","date_gmt":"2017-04-27T01:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/?p=1389"},"modified":"2017-04-28T20:24:55","modified_gmt":"2017-04-29T00:24:55","slug":"ostrichs-and-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/2017\/04\/26\/ostrichs-and-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Ostriches and Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Thess Pfferr<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Elaine<\/a>

Elaine Hinkle tends the Sacred Heart Center’s collection of free children’s books and toys. (Photo by Thess Pfferr) <\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Every child has a favorite toy.<\/p>\n

Mine was a black plastic horse named Fury. He was the strongest and bravest horse I have seen in my life. Together we lived through adventures in hostile unexplored territories\u2014under the kitchen table, or my mother’s office. Kids need toys, and not every kid has them.<\/p>\n

In the hall of the Sacred Heart Center, there are five pine-green chairs where visitors sit and wait. A young woman sits in one of the chairs as a young boy and girl play around her. When the boy, who’s three, tries to open the center\u00b4s door, the woman stops him.<\/p>\n

\"Ostrich\"<\/a>

Invited by Hinkle to choose several free toys, a four-year-old girl from El Salvador picked an ostrich and two books. (Photo by Thess Pfferr)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cNot outside,” she says. “There are cars outside.\u201d He smiles maliciously back at her while holding the door open. After a few seconds, the woman’s face is serious enough to make him surrender and he closes the door.<\/p>\n

Elaine Hinkle, the development manager of the Sacred Heart Center, comes to them and says to the kids in Spanish, \u00bfQuieres llevarte un libro a la casa? \u00bfo un peluche?<\/em> Do you want a book to take home? Or a stuffed animal?<\/p>\n

The two kids look at Hinkle and then at\u00a0the woman who’s with them. No answer. Son gratis,<\/em> says Hinkle. They’re free. For the first time, the young girl looks up and smiles.<\/p>\n

She\u00a0is four years old, three feet tall and the only child of her mother, who’s 20. She was born in the United States shortly after her family arrived here from El Salvador.<\/p>\n

Hinkle\u00a0points at a box a few feet away that contains four stuffed animals next to a small book stand. The girl runs to the box, but the three-year-old boy sits next to his sister. \u201cSome kids are shy,\u201d Hinkle says.<\/p>\n

The girl comes back with a stuffed animal and two children’s books, \u201cJuan y Juanita\u201d and “Wild Animals.” She hugs the stuffed animal. \u201cWhat is it?\u201d she asks her mother in Spanish, but her mother doesn’t know. She looks at me and repeats the question. \u201cIt’s an ostrich,\u201d I say. She hugs the animal and smiles as if she had made a new friend.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

\u00a0(Photo by Thess Pfferr)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

After the rest of the family finish their meeting, they all leave the center. Hinkle talks about why she offers kids toys along with the books\u2014to draw them out. \u201cSometimes they are shy,” she says. She comes to the kids in the center and says to them, ‘Oh! We got a pig! We got a bear! Do you like bears?’\u201d<\/p>\n

A little\u00a0boy, four years old, came to her once after she had given him a book and a stuffed dog to take home. \u201cHe gave me 12 cents. He was so happy he had those things that he wanted to thank me. That’s what he had.\u201d<\/p>\n

The center usually has toys and books for younger children, but it also has books and magazines for older kids. A boy came in recently to browse the Center’s magazine collection, Hinkle says. The boy, who “must have been 12 or so,” was skinny and wore glasses. After a time he asked her, in English, whether the Center had any TIME magazines.<\/p>\n

Hinkle was momentarily taken aback by the question.<\/p>\n

Then: “I was like, good for you, kid!”<\/p>\n

\n

To read this dispatch\u00a0in Spanish, click\u00a0here<\/a>\/ Le\u00e1lo en espa\u00f1ol aqu\u00ed<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Thess Pfferr Every child has a favorite toy. Mine was a black plastic horse named Fury. He was the strongest and bravest horse I have seen in my life. Together we lived through adventures in hostile unexplored territories\u2014under the kitchen table, or my mother’s office. Kids need toys, and not every kid has them. Read more about Ostriches and Books<\/span>[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3349,"featured_media":1391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[53786],"tags":[5196,86,770,53813,53815],"class_list":["post-1389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jeff-davis-corridor","tag-children","tag-immigration","tag-poverty","tag-sacred-heart","tag-toys","post_format-post-format-image"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/files\/2017\/04\/D1.-books-and-stuffed-animal.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7o53H-mp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3349"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/walkingrichmond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}