Kallai’s Story

Six-year-old Kallai (pronounced KuhLAY) is a serious little boy with a sweet smile and a soft spot for hugs. He’s also a little boy that made tremendous gains during his first year in school.

Gains that wouldn’t have been possible without his time at Operation Shoestring, according to his teachers.

At the beginning of the school year, when Operation Shoestring welcomed Kallai to our afterschool program, he was struggling to identify his numbers and letters, and when he tried to write, most of his words came out backwards. He was behind his Kindergarten peers in most areas, and Ms. Rounds, his teacher here at Shoestring, said that she felt terrible watching him either fall silent in group activities where his lack of knowledge might be noticed, or misbehave in hopes of getting out of having to participate.

But she kept a close eye on him and made sure to encourage him, even through incorrect answers and misspelled words. After a few months, she started noticing a change.

“I’ll never forget the first time I saw him walk over to the bookcase and pick out a book to read during break time instead of playing with blocks. I knew he couldn’t read it on his own, but the fact that he wanted to try—and during his break time—was a huge step!”

She said it’s been a slow and steady climb since then, with Kallai even starting to speak up now in front of the class.

Kallai’s journey from struggling with numbers and letters to starting to spell words, form sentences, and even count by fives, has been impressive—but it’s not unusual.

Here at Operation Shoestring, where caring adults, hands-on learning, and year-round enrichment are the norm for our students, results like these are what we’ve come to expect – though the thrill of watching them unfold in the lives of the children and families we serve is never lost!

Every day, hundreds of Operation Shoestring children are learning, growing and having fun, all while those external indicators of their odds for success – their academic performance, behavior and attendance at school – progress steadily forward.

While statistics tell us that children in low-income communities like ours have the odds stacked against them, Kallai – and hundreds of children just like him – are beating these odds, thanks to the help of supporters like you.

Thank you for giving them this chance.

With your help, children and families from across Jackson can all rise together, no matter what neighborhood they’re in, and no matter what the statistics say. That’s what Kallai’s depending on.

And, ultimately, it’s what we’re all depending on.

We all rise together.