As a doctoral student, I served as a hostess for famous authors and illustrators when they came to participate in the Ohio State University Children’s Literature Conference. I hosted such beloved creators of children’s books as Nikki Grimes, Jerry Pinkney and James Ransome. I would stand at the airport, holding one of their books and waiting to pick them up and then drive them around town to places they needed to go and assist them during autograph sessions. After graduating from my university and accepting a position at Clemson University in 2003, I kept in touch with James Ransome.

In 2005 I received a grant from the government to conduct a family-literacy program. I wanted to see what would happen when I exposed ten African American families with children to books by and about African Americans. I provided each of the families with copies of seven books, five of which were illustrated by James.

The families participated in a series of five monthly workshops, and the final event was a presentation by James and an autograph session with him. I believed this event would be a meaningful way to end the program, by having a famous illustrator of children’s literature come and talk about his work, especially because the families and I had read and responded to several of his books over the course of the five workshops.

James’s visit was informative and enlightening for the families. A parent, Ashley, told me that she sent a note to her son’s teacher about having participated in the program and loaned her son’s autographed copies of James’s books for the class to read. Looking back over my career, this family-literacy program is one of the accomplishments of which I am the proudest, and I am especially pleased that James was part of it.

Many people heard about the “Little Free Library”, which was a movement that let people swap a book for another or take it and bring it back. Now, people are joining in the “Little Free Pantry” idea, which shares a similar value of spreading kindness with mini pantries.

One family who live in Boise, Idaho, have a three-year-old son who wanted to build something for his third birthday, so they decided that they would build a community pantry box that they would share with their neighbors. They felt that they had everything they wanted, so they wanted to give a little something back to the community and help the people in need.

The idea is that the family fill this box up with non-perishable (不易腐的) items, which include tins, toiletries, and other goods. However, it’s meant to be a community give and take, so other people would also contribute to adding to this mini-pantry.

It seems that the idea has taken off in other communities who also want to give a little something back and help those in need. It’s the kind of movement that helps the struggling members of the community, allowing them to live knowing that they can have a can of soup for dinner if they have nothing else. Or that sanitary products are available.

The Millers keep their little pantry going, realizing that it’s emptiest toward the end of the month, so they know that it’s really helping people. They don’t believe that anyone has taken advantage of it and that it’s only helped people.

Various other communities have taken on the mini pantries project in order to spread a little kindness within their community.

Over 27-hundred volunteers, dubbed(授予称号)the“New Generation at the Bird’s Nest”, are activated among different posts at the IAAF Championships.

Xie Junyan heads a group of 72 volunteers. His team is dealing with security. “Our volunteers are here as an important force to ensure people’s safety and security. If there were no volunteers, there wouldn’t be enough security, which would allow people to come in without tickets. It could be chaos without us. ”

Others, including Wang Sijia, a volunteer from China University of Mining and Technology, are less concerned about safety, and more about making those at the event feel welcome.

“I’m a girl who loves smiling. Being able to convey happiness to others makes me feel great. ”

Wang Sijia’s fellow volunteer, Deng Yupei, is hoping to gain a little bit more practical experience from his time at the event.

“I’ve never had an experience like this before. Coming to such a big event, I’m really excited because it’s a whole new experience to me. I also think my time here has helped me improve my English. I’ve also made a lot of friends here. ”

Two-in-five of the volunteers at the IAAF event have been put there specifically to help the international delegations. Chinese visitors to this year’s event say the volunteers are just as helpful.

“They are very considerate. We didn’t know where our seats were when we first arrived. They directed us to the seats. They’re very good. ”

Outgoing IAAF President Lamine Diack has taken time to pay tribute to the volunteers, calling them“the true spirit of athletics”.