Athens student returns the kindness he was once shown

On the west side of the original Athens Drive High School building, there is a small room with a set of shelves filled floor to ceiling with food. That food is part of the Backpack Buddies program, a program which sends home food with students who may otherwise have little to eat.

That pantry all too often needs restocking. When the school held a donation drive earlier this month, 750 pounds of goods were collected. A third of that, 250 pounds of food items, came from just one 16-year-old student.

“My name is Gilberto Hernandez Cruz,” said the shy young man standing in the pantry, adding you can call him Gil for short, “It's like a nickname, you know?”

We'll give him the respect of his full first name, Gilberto. Respect is big on his agenda. He respects his fellow students, his teachers and most of all his family.

"My family is special. They made me who I am now,” he said. Who is that? "I'm Gilberto. I'm that special guy who tries to help anyone.”

Gilberto has a reason to help.He was once one of those who needed help. Friday afternoons in third grade he would visit his favorite teacher and take home a bag full of food. He was part of the Backpack Buddies program back.

“Let's be for real,” he said, “There are times when things are really difficult, but at the end of the day, difficult times are just going to push your limits. You're going to feel inspired.”

Gilberto was inspired to return the kindness. Using the $80 a week he earns doing odd jobs for an auto center, Gilberto bought food to donate to the Athens Drive Magnet High School food drive.

The amount of food he brought in surprised his teachers.

“He is a beautiful angel come into my class room,” homeroom teacher Dulce Rodriguez said. “Teachers don't make a lot of money, but that feeling you get when somebody does good things, you can't measure that.”

Gilberto credits his family for his giving nature. It is the way they raised him, he said.

“I really like that I help people. I really enjoy helping people,” he said.

Some of the people he will help with all that food will be his classmates. That pantry on the west side of the building never seems to stay full.