Milestone Monday: Look Out, World—He’s Rising
By Terri Jordan
There’s a moment parents like me don’t talk about enough—the moment after high school when the world seems to shrink for our children. Opportunities disappear. Programs end. And it feels like our kids “fall off a cliff” with nowhere to belong, expected to fade quietly into the background. It’s heartbreaking, and it’s real.
But sometimes… You find a place where your child doesn’t fall off a cliff.
They climb.
They grow.
They belong.
And they remind you just how much is possible when someone believes in them.
For us, that place is the local food bank distribution center. For over two years, one morning a week, this has been more than volunteer work—it has been a lifeline of purpose and possibility.
My child has taken on tasks that many never imagined he could do.
He’s broken down boxes and loaded the compactor.
He’s pulled cans from donation bins and helped pack them.
He’s assembled boxes with the box machine—more than 600 in less than 3 hours recently.
He’s worked the assembly line, filling senior boxes with care.
He’s stacked finished boxes onto pallets for distribution, helping feed our community.
He’s scooped fruit and vegetables from huge crates into smaller milk crates so that other volunteers can sort and bag them for distribution.
And then there’s the moment that still brings tears to my eyes:
It took him 42 minutes to learn how to assemble a vegetable box. Forty-two minutes of struggling, trying, wanting to quit, pushing forward, and believing—because I believed in him. I could have stepped in. I could have redirected him. But I knew he could do it.
And he did.
Once it clicked, he and two other volunteers went on to assemble 212 boxes.
This is why we don’t give up.
This is why we don’t accept limits placed on our children.
This is why we keep searching for places where they can grow, contribute, and be seen for all they can do.
It isn’t easy to find opportunities. It isn’t easy to fight for them, either. But when you do—when your child finds their place and begins to soar—The world better be ready, because here they come. 🌍✨