Profiles In Manners and Public Displays of Social Graces

Cayden Taipalus

Howell, Michigan (located halfway between Detroit and Lansing) is a town of about 9,500 people. It’s a lower-middle-class working community, where men leave every day to support their families, and women find work in the industries that will have them. Fewer than 4% of Howell residents live below the poverty line, but those who do find that Howell knows how to take care of its own. At least, they do if one little boy is any example of the town’s spirit.

Some time back, 8-year-old Cayden Taipalus stood in the school lunch line at Challenger Elementary, and witnessed a fellow student receive a “sandwich” comprised of two slices of dry bread and a single, thin slice of cheese. Cayden, his own tray heaped with a school-spec but hot lunch, shared his classmate’s pain and disappointment. The classmate’s school lunch account was more than $5 in the negative, and in Michigan, that means an “alternative” lunch.

Something had to be done.

Cayden came home that day and told his mother, Amber Peters, of the cheese sandwich incident, and asked her if anything could be done. The two came up with “Pay it Forward — No Kid Goes Hungry.” According to Cayden, he just “wanted to help kids have a better lunch.”

Cayden began calling his friends and family, trying to raise money to pay off the school lunch accounts of the kids whose accounts were in the negative. After hitting Facebook and tapping all willing souls available, he hit the streets to raise more money, collecting cans and bottles, turning them in for the recycling fee. At the end of the drive, Cayden and his mother raised enough money to bring every delinquent student’s account back into the positive, enough for over 150 lunches at Challenger elementary prices.

He collected $64. And some change.

Excerpt from ABC News report

As this story shows, good manners is not just about being polite to others, it is also about caring for others. Good job Cayden!