High schoolers involved in FFA descend upon Indianapolis every year for the huge organization’s annual meeting. They elect new national officers, engage in breakout sessions and accomplish quite a bit while in town.
The students also are encouraged to spread kindness and socialize safely while in town. Except one night, a group of FFA kids from the Eureka, Kansas, FFA chapter were a wee bit too loud for their hotel neighbors and the mom next door was sure to let them know about it.
John and Randi Amt, along with their three kids, had been holed up at a local hotel for 10 days when the FFA kids arrived. The family wasn’t exactly enjoying their lengthy hotel stay, because they were there by necessity.
Their house had been completely flooded and left unhabitable when a toilet malfunctioned while they were out of town. John told WTHR that living for such a period of time in a hotel had become daunting on the family.
“Living in a hotel can be fun for a little while, but being in a hotel for a long time gets to be a little difficult.”
When the FFA kids arrived in town, countless students stayed at their hotel. Randi was already exhausted from driving kids to sports practice and activities back in their home town 30 minutes away.
Randi and John tucked the kids into bed quickly, but the teens outside their door in the hallway were a bit loud. Randi grew frustrated, but realized she shouldn’t talk to the kids as upset as she was, so she headed to bed.
The next evening, she noticed the students’ hotel doors were cracked, so she knocked and asked to speak with them. She pleaded with them to be just a bit quieter at night and told them about her family’s plight.
“I told them that we wanted them to have their fun and we would appreciate their respect to let our kids get a good night’s rest. The young man who answered the door told me that he was very sorry about what we were going through.”
Randi hated to confront the FFA students, but her kids needed better sleep. As she readied for bed, she glanced over toward the hotel room door and noticed that someone had slipped a note under the door.
What she read in the note tugged at her heartstrings. It was from the FFA students and they told her they were sorry about her home.
The note said:
“We are more than sorry for waking you and your family up the past few nights. We hope everything goes well with your house.”
What accompanied the note addressed to her family reassured her that their were still good people in this world. That today’s teens do indeed possess compassion for others going through a rough patch.
“I opened the note to find money. In a world where some people sit behind screens and become angry on social media, this young man restored my faith that the next generation can make eye contact and show compassion to the person right in front of him … They set an excellent example for my children and their parents should be more than proud.”
Even though the Amts are without a home, they decided to take the $40 bestowed upon them by the FFA kids and pay it forward. They bought hats and mittens to donate to a local shelter because those people don’t have a roof over their heads.
How incredibly thoughtful of the FFA high schoolers to not only try to offer a bit of support to the family, but also pen a heartfelt note expressing their sincere apologies!
