Taking action
His action started as an emotional outlet in a form of a Facebook post after hearing from a 6th grader how he couldn’t eat lunch that day because he was 40₵ short on his lunch card, and it turned into a viral movement where people shared stories and took initiatives to provide every child with a meal at school. Because Cook couldn’t let this incident go, as most would unfortunately do, and because he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind and show how he felt about it, he was able to make a change.
As it usually happens with great deeds like this, it took viral proportions as people started commenting on and sharing the post so as to spread the awareness about the issue. The reason the post got so much reaction is that the people were able to recognize the sentiment behind his decision to speak in the name of each child who ever felt hungry and powerless.
The reward
The powerful message Cook sent soon reached the school superintendent who called Cook for a meeting the next day, and requested that driver retracts his statement or leave his job, blaming it on the schools “strict Facebook policy”. This was another time Cook decided to act from his heart, and not give in to the materialistic and heartless attitude of the system. He knew, if he retracted the statement, his message would mean nothing and he would be conforming to the silly rules that deny food to children. And that is something he couldn’t do. True, he lost his job, but his heart was in the right place, and that is all that matters.
