A neighbor called 911 at 11: 09 a.m. after seeing smoke coming from a house in the 165 block of 54th Street Southeast.

The man who lives in the home was able to get his older child and the family dog out of the house on fire. Just then Monroe police officers arrived. The father said his younger child was still on the upper level of the house but he didn’t know where.

Officers did a quick search of the house but couldn’t find the girl. One of them closed the door to the master bedroom, where the fire started, controlling it and slowing its spread. Firefighters arrived and after searching the closet and narrow beds in another bedroom, one firefighter noticed the closed toy box at the foot of the bed.

“She wasn’t making sounds,” later the firefighter said of the girl, whose exact age he didn’t know. “I opened it up and saw her. She was lying in the toy box just balled up.”

Firefighters got the girl outside, where she was examined by doctors and found to be fine. The fire was quickly put out. The police officer who managed to shut the master bedroom door was highly praised. And the girl’s father was so thankful to firefighters.

“Being able to help people just makes you a happier person.” says Anandi, a 12-year-old from Memphis, USA. Anandi volunteers for an organization called Little Helpers.

Little Helpers provides services and activities for local children. The organization was set up in Memphis in 2010. It has more than 12 chapters (地方分会) worldwide.

Volunteers for Little Helpers helped fill and give out backpacks in Merphis last Sunday. I got to attend the event and saw the enthusiasm（热情）among the volunteers, who were aged from 3 to 14 . “I just like to help.” said Jack, a 14-year-old volunteer. “There’s no reason for my volunteering. It’s just because I like to do it.”

The group holds monthly service projects for children of all ages. As Tran Bui Smith, one of the founders of Little Helpers, explained, “We give kids activities to make this world better. It doesn’t matter how little they are. They can come and take part. It may be a drive（运动）to collect things for those less lucky or a hands-on project where we work side by side together.”

“For some reason, our food-donation box just isn’t filling up recently,” said my dad.

“Maybe it’s time to think of a way to remind people about the food bank,” said my mom.

“What about a talent show?”my dad suggested.

“OK,______” said my mom.

So while my parents posted information online, we kids made some signs. My friend Mareya came over to help out.

“I’d like to do an act in the show, but I don’t know what to do,” I told Mareya.

“Well , since the food-bank thing is about sharing,” said Mareya, “why not write a song about that?”

“Writing a song is not a problem,” I said. “But it’s hard for me to sing it alone!”

She said. “What if we sang it together?”

Since Mareya has the world’s prettiest voice and also happens to play the guitar, I agreed.

Mareya and I practiced and practiced, and I was feeling pretty good about our act. But the morning of the performance, Mareya called that she had a stomachache and was not in any shape to perform.

“There’s no way I’m going on without you,” I told her.

“You’ve worked so hard,” she said. “You’ll be great!”

But great is the last word anyone would choose to describe my performance! Without Mareya’s guitar and voice to guide me, my song was completely in a mess. And I even forgot half the words.

Remember the sick, heart-racing, hot-faced feeling I was talking about? Well, that’s what I was experiencing—more than I ever had before.

Once I was off the steps, my mom gave me a big hug.

“I want to disappear! I’ve never been so embarrassed(尴尬的) in my life,” I said.

Ollie smiled.   “I think you are really brave.”

Indi added, “I now know that you truly can survive(幸存) a lot more embarrassment than you think.”