what people say about us

Rebecca Paniagua

Recently a message which confused me was posted with a donation to Rowan s Give Forward page Vrishabh Uchil requested donations for his birthday We are pleased to help Rowan The Randalls I had no idea who Vrishabh Uchil was so I didn t reply immediately to the donors to thank them A couple days letter I received an email from Vaishali mother to Vrishabh who explained that he is her son who just celebrated his sixth birthday and requested that all his guests give a monetary donation to Rowan s Cancer Fund rather than bring him a birthday gift What an amazing and wonderful little boy Vaishali further explained that the instructors of Vrishabh s martial arts school asks that their students complete a community service project What an incredibly responsible way to teach children martial arts The idea that a disciple of a fighting art should temper that knowledge with service and aid to others is highly conscientious I don t know if that is specifically the lesson the instructors are trying to teach but it certainly appears that way to me and I completely approve Vaishali told me she saw a news clip about Rowan on TV Googled her name and read Rowan s story She and Vrishabh discussed the idea of his asking his friends to give to Rowan s fund in lieu of his receiving presents and he was fully behind the idea What compassion and generosity in one so young I commend his parents for doing such a great job in teaching him these values I have posted a few images from Vrishabh s birthday party as well as his visit on Sunday with his family to meet Rowan in our home and deliver the money they raised 300 It was really nice meeting everyone and spending a little time getting to know each other They gave Rowan a gift which she eagerly unwrapped a 5-Minute Story Princess book and an ultra-soft dolly We all went outside and walked around the yard as the children gathered pretty fallen autumn leaves Thank you so very much to the Uchil Family to their friends who respected Vrishabh s special birthday request and to the martial arts instructors who are teaching their students important lessons about social responsibility I also have an image of Vrishabh showing us some martial arts moves