Gerald Carney has been a crossing guard for Briarwood Elementary School, in the Moore Public Schools, for more than a dozen years. He cares deeply about the children that he has been entrusted to keep safe and shows this on a daily basis. He is always ready to help kids cross safely on a busy street whether it’s raining, cold, or a beautiful day. He greets children with a smile, hugs, and high fives. He’s just doing his job, but he does his job faithfully and with lots of care and concern.
Mr. Carney has even been on the news a couple of times because of his acts of service in his job to the children and the community of Briarwood. He was featured as one of the Pay It Forward segments for News 4. More recently, he was recognized on the news because someone noticed his effort to go above and beyond to keep his crosswalk and children safe. As the school year began, the weeds in the nearby field right up to the cross walk were very high, causing a problem for cars to see if Mr. Carney and the children were waiting to cross. He had called to have the weeds cut down, but a few weeks went by without anything being done. Mr. Carney had brought his weed eater from home, but with the weeds so thick, it only made a dent. That’s when he spent $300 of his money to buy a field trimmer for the purpose of cutting these weeds. Someone drove by when he was using his new equipment and found out more about the story and called it in to the news.
I know Mr. Carney on a personal basis because I see him almost every day when I walk to and from Briarwood School with my own kids. He always helps us to cross SW 149thstreet safely. Our school recently recognized him at an assembly. On that day, the children could bring $1 to wear a cap during school. They called that day “Caps for Carney”. The money raised was going to go to Mr. Carney as an act of love for the sacrifice and act of love that he had given to the school. Over $400 was raised that day to give to Mr. Carney. He told me that he wasn’t expecting any of this and he didn’t do it for the attention. I assured him we all knew why he did what he did. I told him that what he does every day matters and his commitment and care makes a difference. We just wanted him to know how much he is appreciated. He lives out the fruits of the spirit daily and his actions make a difference.
Amy Givens, Director of Youth Ministry
