Three months after my presentation for a foster-youth program was dismissed with a cold \u201cWe\u2019ll be in touch,\u201d I flew home convinced I\u2019d failed. That morning, on the way to the airport, I saw a girl\u2014maybe 17\u2014curled on a bench in nothing but a thin sweater, lips blue from the cold.<\/p>\n
Instinct took over. I wrapped her in my mother\u2019s old scarf and pressed my last $100 into her hand.
\u201cGet something warm to eat,\u201d I told her.
She whispered, \u201cThank you,\u201d and I left, certain I\u2019d never see her again.<\/p>\n
Three hours later, I boarded my flight\u2026 and froze.<\/p>\n
She was sitting in first class.<\/p>\n
Clean. Composed. Wrapped in my scarf. Two bodyguards stood nearby.
\u201cMiss Vivienne, we\u2019ll be right outside,\u201d one said.<\/p>\n
I nearly dropped my coffee.
\u201cWhat does this mean?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
She folded her hands. \u201cSit, Erin. This is your real interview.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach flipped. She opened a folder\u2014my<\/strong> funding proposal. I bristled. \u201cI\u2019m not apologizing for helping someone in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n She stared at me\u2026 then smiled and shut the folder. She extended her hand.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s build something good together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Three months after my presentation for a foster-youth program was dismissed with a cold \u201cWe\u2019ll be in touch,\u201d I flew home convinced I\u2019d failed. That morning, on the way to the airport, I saw a girl\u2014maybe 17\u2014curled on a bench in nothing but a thin sweater, lips blue from the cold. Instinct took over. I …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/lifestorybuffering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/5-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifestorybuffering.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifestorybuffering.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifestorybuffering.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifestorybuffering.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifestorybuffering.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3194"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lifestorybuffering.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3197,"href":"https:\/\/lifestorybuffering.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3194\/revisions\/3197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifestorybuffering.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifestorybuffering.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifestorybuffering.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifestorybuffering.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cYou gave $100 and your scarf to a stranger,\u201d she said coolly. \u201cSome call it generosity. I call it gullibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood. That was the test. My family owns the foundation. We\u2019ll fund your program. You help people because you mean it.\u201d<\/p>\n