A birthday gift of literacy paid forward

There is a story in my family of a patriarch who would give his mom a gift on his birthday. This represents a classic pay it forward celebration of unselfish gratitude for the gifts that others have given to us from the time we were born and throughout our lives. Literacy is a gift instilled by deliberate and caring mentors – especially our parents and teachers. Recently, I made a couple of visits to my parents to celebrate their back-to-back birthdays. I left their home arms full with a box and a grocery bag of magazines in mint condition – Audubon, George, and Popular Science – a particular favorite of mine that launched countless dreams of invention for this young reader. These magazines will be recycled by KinderHarvest to children and families in homeless and domestic violence shelters so they may know a bit of that same joy. Happy birthday mom and dad.