The following letter was sent to Kennedy ES Principal Vaunce Ashby by a parent who was truly appreciative of the extra effort custodian Rick Dunn made to find her son's eye glasses. Dunn became a detective to solve the "mystery."

December 8, 2006

I need to tell you about how wonderfully helpful a member of your staff was for us — the custodian, Rick (Dunn).

Tonight when I arrived at after-school to pick up my child, I found that his glasses were missing. We went upstairs and found Rick, who let us into the classroom and helped us search. He asked my son, Connor, all sorts of questions to try to help find them; we tried calling the teacher at home, and looked in the office Lost & Found.

When we still couldn't find them, he took down my name and number & promised to keep trying the teacher and would give me a call if he found anything.

I went home upset but grateful for all his help and tried to figure out how Christmas would go if I had to spend another $170 for a new pair of glasses and how bad it might be for Connor to go without glasses for a while.

Then at 9:00 tonight Rick called us and told me that he had thought about where Connor said he was in the classroom for rest time, laid down on the floor and tried to figure out where Connor might have put the glasses from there. Then he found them underneath a cart, and would meet my husband at the school door if he could get there at the end of his shift.

What an incredible guy! He really was understanding, thoughtful, and a good detective! He saved Connor's glasses from possible damage, (he saved) our weekend, and possibly even our Christmas (who knows how long things might have gone before they were discovered)!

Please extend our gratitude to him & know you've got a staff member who really cares about the kids and what's important to them. Thank you.

Patty Bast
(Connor's mom)