Chicago teacher helps former student with child care as she attends job fair
MIDLOTHIAN, Illinois -- One Chicago teacher has gone above and beyond the call of duty, showing the world that a teacher's job is never done.
Around 2 a.m. last week, LaShonda Carter received a message from Larresha Plummer, a former student, three years after she'd been in her class.
The two started talking and Plummer, 18, told Carter that she recently had a baby and was going through a tough time, adding that there was a job fair she needed to attend later in the week.
Plummer thought taking her newborn on public transit was a little risky for her health.
Immediately, the teacher stepped in.
"There was no way I would have let her take a baby in a bus, I told her right away that I would pick her up in the morning," Carter told CNN.
Carter and Plummer's journey began when the student was 15.
The pair met while Carter was teaching at Harper High School, CNN reports.
The two shared a special bond and remained friends, even after Carter took another job at another school nearby.
"We always talk, even though I left Harper, I still keep in contact with all of my students," Carter told CNN.
On Thursday, Carter picked the mother and her child up and took them to the fair.
While Plummer went to apply for jobs, Carter sat in the car with the 3-week-old baby girl.
"Sometimes, as a teacher, our job goes beyond the classroom," Carter said in a viral Facebook live. "And so I'm reaching out because I need you all's help; I need my village because this beautiful little baby needs something. I don't think the mom needs money or anything like that, but this beautiful baby needs clothes."
Carter spent the remaining time of the live video asking her Facebook friends to donate clothing, wipes, or any baby items that they could, saying she'd swing by and pick them up.
After Plummer was done, Carter took the teen to apply for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), a program that assists mothers in need with getting food and nutrition education.
Going forward, Carter's main wish for the new mother is for her to know that she can still have success.
"I need the assistance of my village in order ... (sic) for my student, for my previous student, to know that she can still be successful even though she's a teenage mother," Carter said. "A teenage mother does not equal failure. So, I just begin to speak life into her and speak against the lies that the enemy is trying to flood her mind and to let her know that she can still be successful; there are people out there ... who will love and help her, who have never even met or seen her."
A GoFundMe was created to help Plummer and her newborn.
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