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Speaker 1: Hello, friends, Welcome to Story Behind podcast. This is the

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Speaker 1: show for people who love hearing a good story and

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Speaker 1: who believe the world could use more positivity. We're the

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Speaker 1: team behind God Updates and God Too, and we hope

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Speaker 1: these weekly short stories will brighten your day.

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Speaker 2: A lunch lady's brave act saves a student, and her

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Speaker 2: community shows their gratitude. Written by Heather Ricklemann, read by

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Speaker 2: Jully Provost. The cafeteria is usually the safest kind of chaos.

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Speaker 2: Plastic trays, sliding, kid laughing too loudly, lunch ladies moving

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Speaker 2: with the muscle memory of years spent feeding growing bodies.

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Speaker 2: It's the kind of place where mom's trusted without thinking

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Speaker 2: twice that their children are being watched over. And one

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Speaker 2: ordinary lunch period at Rocky Mountain Middle School proved why

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Speaker 2: that trust matters. In the middle of a busy lunch rush,

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Speaker 2: a student suddenly began having a seizure, and Michelle, one

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Speaker 2: of the lunch ladies, didn't hesitate. She stepped away from

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Speaker 2: her serving line. She come on when won. She stayed

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Speaker 2: right there with the student, offering calm, steady care until

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Speaker 2: help arrived. Someone later wrote in about her, saying Michelle

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Speaker 2: jumped into action and stayed with the student to provide calm,

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Speaker 2: caring support till emergency help arrived. It wasn't her job description,

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Speaker 2: but it was her heart and as a mother, reading

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Speaker 2: that something softens and studies all at once, because we

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Speaker 2: send our kids into the world every day, carrying backpacks

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Speaker 2: and lunches and pieces of our hearts, hoping and praying

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Speaker 2: that if something goes wrong, someone kind will step in,

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Speaker 2: someone brave, someone who won't look away. Michelle was at someone.

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Speaker 2: Her coworkers and school staff worked together seamlessly. The student

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Speaker 2: was cared for quickly, and later, when Michelle was surprised

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Speaker 2: and publicly thanked, she was moved to tears because helpers

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Speaker 2: rarely expect to be seen. But that's how God reassures us,

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Speaker 2: isn't it. But He wasn't done yet. When the community

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Speaker 2: heard what she had done, they showed up for her

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Speaker 2: in the same way she had shown up for that child.

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Speaker 2: Through a feel good Friday surprise. She was honored, publicly thanked, celebrated,

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Speaker 2: and reminded that her compassion mattered. Surrounded by gratitude and encouragement,

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Speaker 2: Michelle was moved to tears, the kind that comes when

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Speaker 2: you realize your quiet faithfulness has been seen. This is

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Speaker 2: how God reassures us through ordinary people who act with

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Speaker 2: extraordinary care, and through communities that honor goodness when they

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Speaker 2: see it. He places watchers and cafeterias and hallways. He

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Speaker 2: wraps our children in protection through steady hands and brave hearts,

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Speaker 2: and sometimes he lets us see it on full display,

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Speaker 2: just to remind us there are still good people out there,

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Speaker 2: still helpers, still a community willing to care for those

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Speaker 2: who care for our kids. The Lord, or watch over,

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Speaker 2: You're coming and going, both now and forevermore, Psalm one

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Speaker 2: hundred and twenty one eight at eighty one. This grandma

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Speaker 2: turned Minecraft into a way to help pay for her

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Speaker 2: grandson's cancer care. Written by Mikhayldoni read Budgily Provost, who

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Speaker 2: knew a grandma playing Minecraft could help her grandson fight cancer?

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Speaker 2: The gramma herself, Sue jack Wood, didn't know until she

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Speaker 2: went viral. After a little money from her videos comes in,

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Speaker 2: it's all going toward her grandson's medical bills. Ever since

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Speaker 2: her grandkin's taught her to play Minecraft, the eighty one

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Speaker 2: year old Arizona resident has been uploading videos under the

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Speaker 2: gamer name Grandma Crackers. Her grandson Jack is currently in

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Speaker 2: remission for sircroma cancer, which affects soft muscles and tissue.

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Speaker 2: His family still has a lot of medical bills to

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Speaker 2: pay for his chemo treatments. The first couple of months,

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Speaker 2: I was kind of intimidated by Minecraft, she said in

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Speaker 2: her first video, But I've been playing more the past

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Speaker 2: couple of months, and I really enjoyed it, and I

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Speaker 2: invite you to come along with me in this new adventure.

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Speaker 2: Her grandson Austin set up a gofund me to help

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Speaker 2: cover Jack's expenses too. You're stepping into a little world

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Speaker 2: that's different than your own, she said. I'm Gramma Crackers

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Speaker 2: because I like Graham Crackers. People responded so positively, She explained,

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Speaker 2: That's when I realized maybe I could get enough money

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Speaker 2: to help my daughter and her family pay for some

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Speaker 2: of this treatment that Jack's been through. Jack said his

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Speaker 2: treatment was months long and very difficult. He's just a

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Speaker 2: very special young man. Sue said it was devastating. It's

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Speaker 2: really like a mortgage on a small house by the

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Speaker 2: time you finish the chemo, she said of the medical

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Speaker 2: bills over the past two months. Sue's videos have gotten

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Speaker 2: over half a million views and three hundred and sixty

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Speaker 2: thousand subscribers. In a special video, Gramma Crackers was joined

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Speaker 2: by Jack on the stream, where she gave him a

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Speaker 2: tour of her Minecraft build. Sue is still trying to

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Speaker 2: get better at the game and has a whole notebook

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Speaker 2: of tips and tricks to help her. Sue has enjoyed

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Speaker 2: the challenge of gaming and encourages other grandmas to try

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Speaker 2: out Moncraft too. I'm throwed that I can be able

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Speaker 2: to provide any kind of help for him that I can,

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Speaker 2: Sue explained. On January seventeenth. Austin commented on the GoFundMe page.

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Speaker 2: The biggest bussing we've received has been Jack's improving health

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Speaker 2: as he is in remission, he continues to fight every day,

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Speaker 2: getting stronger and healthier amid every continuing doctor's visits and

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Speaker 2: follow ups. It's just incredible that an eighty one year

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Speaker 2: old would take to gaming, but she's doing it for

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Speaker 2: a great cause. I hope she continues to rake in

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Speaker 2: tons of support for Jack.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to Story Behind podcast.

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Speaker 1: We're really glad you joined us for this week's story.

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Speaker 1: To see photos and videos that may have been referenced

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Speaker 1: in this episode. Check out the links and the show notes,

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Speaker 1: and if you enjoyed what you heard today, subscribe to

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Speaker 1: our podcast and please tell a friend about us. We'd

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Speaker 1: a review. It really does help more people find us.

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Speaker 1: Story Behind is a Salem Web Network production.