Scholarship Finalists 2021

1. Faith Linthicum

It was my second week working at subway and I stood eagerly at the sandwich line
watching the customers emerge from the parked car. It was a younger boy, around the age of
10, and his mother who he had insisted on buying lunch for. I made their sandwiches and rang
them up then read out the total. The mom reached for her purse but the boy laughed and
pushed it away, pulling out a spiderman wallet and pulling out several bills and coins. I usually
hated counting coins but I didn’t mind so much this time. When I told him he was two dollars
short he began digging furiously in his wallet for the money that wasn’t there. I remember him
hanging his head and apologizing to his mom. I felt a deep pang of sadness and before the
mom could reach into her purse I pulled out my tips from my back pocket. I took one glance at
my crumpled bills then up at the boy. “Don't worry” I told him, “It's on me” It was just two dollars
but under the mask I could see his grin, quite literally ear to ear. I always hear the saying that “A
little goes a long way” and I always brushed it off until I personally saw how happy I had made
the boy just by offering something so small. He grabbed the sandwich bag and thanked me,
waving enthusiastically as he headed out for the car. His mom turned and whispered thank you
to me then headed out the door after him.

2. Emma Martinez

An act of kindness that has inspired me, is one that is extremely personal. My father was diagnosed with stage four cancer, February 2020. Covid-19 had just started to become more and more serious. My school shut down, and my work had closed. Everything had gone online, and there was nothing keeping me super busy. My mother and father are divorced, and had been for 19 years. She initiated us packing up some suitcases, and some things we would need for a month or two, and we drove out to Albuquerque, New Mexico where my father lived. We had heard that after his diagnosis, a nutritionist told him to eat white bread because it was easy to digest. Even though he was just told he had a tumor the size of an eggplant wrapped, around the aorta that goes to his stomach. My mother and I had decided that we could take better care of him than that. So we did. When we got there, we got a juicer and created recipes just for my dad. I helped with the juicing, however my mother did a lot of the work. She juiced from morning to night, while cleaning, making food, and taking care of her ex-husband with cancer. My mom took on so much, and basically was his caretaker. She would stay in his bed with him in case he woke up in the middle of the night needing help. We were out there for three months, and were able to help him eat, and gain back some of the weight he had lost. We also helped the growth of the tumor to slow. He was able to finish 6 rounds of chemo and complete radiation. All of his hair grew back, and he was doing well. Around April of this year he started chemo again, and did not respond well. He ended up passing April 21, 2021. However, without my mom we wouldn't have had so much time together. That was a true act of love and kindness.

3. Samantha

In October of 2007, not only did I birth my first born but I also had to plan her funeral. It was such a tumultuous time in my life. I don’t think I would have been able to make it through without the amazing nursing staff at Valley Childrens Hospital. That was by far one of the darkest times in my life, and I’m so thankful for the skilled compassionate care I received from the nurses. That moment, a few months later I realized I wanted to be a nurse, so I could someday help another broken mother like myself. I became an LVN in October of 2011, as an LVN I worked in skilled nursing facilities while I took courses part time and grew my family. I was blessed with 3 daughters and 1 son while completing my pre-requisites for my bridge program. As an LVN I learned time management and how to provide compassionate care to not only my patients but, their families as well. I was admitted into the LVN to RN bridge program in January 2020 and also started a concurrent BSN program through University of Phoenix. I didn’t appreciate the significance a BSN carries until I completed my first course and I was very thankful that I had choose to do the concurrent program.  In July 2021 I became a RN and finally became a labor and delivery nurse. I hope that I can be as amazing as Bonnie was with me. I hope to someday in the near future become a member of  Now I lay me down to sleep, which is a beautiful organization that capture intimate remembrance photographs for parents suffering the loss of a baby free of charge. I wanted to be the designated demise nurse for my unit, I want to give my patients just a little bit of hope. Its been so surreal to see how far I’ve came and Im excited to see what Im going to do.

4. Gabrielle Kirsch

Parker and Sam met when they were in the 6^th grade through gym class at their school. Sam is a special needs student who at the time could barely say his name. The following year, a new program called Unified Sports teamed an athlete with a special needs athlete, thus creating the unified pair of Parker and Sam. Parker and Sam compete in multiple track events where they help each other through the event and score a total based on each other’s finish. Though many would not be patient enough to talk to Sam, Parker went out of his way to make Sam feel comfortable and create a partnership. This partnership blossomed into a friendship that went beyond sports. Though Parker and Sam may have different struggles than the average athlete, it did not stop them from winning multiple state championships and placing multiple times on the podium over the years.

Sam is someone who will light up a room from his smile alone, but Parker makes him feel included and just another high schooler. Parker has helped Sam grow in so many ways, one being that one of the first names other than his family that Sam said was Parker. Parker has not only inspired me, but our entire community to look past a person’s disability and just see them as who they are. He shows us how important friendships are and that no matter what we should always be inclusive of others no matter their differences. We all need a Parker in our lives, and hope that our sons and daughters grow up to be as kind and selfless as him.

AvaCare Medical is your online Medical Supply and Equipment company servicing our beloved patients across the United States.