Merced Sun-Star article
BY BRIANNA CALIX
First, a fire ripped through the home of young Joe Tapetillo III. With their home half-destroyed and uninhabitable, the boy and his family were forced to move to a hotel as they began the long months of repairs and construction on their Olive Avenue house. But, just five days after the fire last summer, the family suffered another setback. Thieves broke into the half-burned home and ransacked it, taking everything of value – mechanical tools, a baseball collection, and a guitar that was a special Christmas gift to young Joe.
His father, Joe Tapetillo, Jr., gave him the instrument to help him fulfill his dream of becoming a musician. “In band, he played the trumpet, but it wasn’t his cup of tea,” Tapetillo said. “He always turned back to the guitar.” Joe, now 12 years old, retold the story of the double tragedy in an essay for his sixth grade class. For the assignment, teacher Frank Delgado asked students to write about their aspirations. Joe wrote about his hopes of becoming a musician and the uphill battle he faced after losing his guitar. Reading the essay aloud to his class, he became emotional. “I felt like I was about to cry, and then I just couldn’t stop,” he said. “I knew I was going to get a lot of talks about this.”
But his emotion touched the heart of his classmate, Julianna Baez. “When you lose something that means a lot, it hurts,” she said. She told her father about Joe’s emotional story, and Alejandro Baez also was touched. Then, a few days later, Julianna showed up with a gift for Joe – a guitar. “A lot of kids said they’d give me one, but I didn’t believe them,” Joe said. When Julianna gave Joe the instrument, she said: “Don’t thank me. Thank my dad.”
On Monday, Joe did, when he finally had a chance to meet Baez in person. Baez said he hopes the Chenoweth students will learn a lesson about generosity. “It’s something good you can do for a kid to make him follow his dreams,” Baez said. “Sometimes, it’s not just about receiving. It’s also about giving and not being selfish ... and making somebody else’s day.”
Tapetillo said the gesture proved to him there’s still good people in the world. “Not everybody is out there only for themselves,” he said. “It sends a positive message that the community will step up in a time of need. It shows my kid that there’s people out there who still care.”
Delgado said it’s important for young people to learn lessons of generosity and kindness. “It’s very heartwarming,” he said.
Chenoweth Principal Vance d’Escoto said the gift represented the spirit of the school. Chenoweth teachers and students strive to be a “community of caring,” and have taken to heart the message from country star Tim McGraw’s song “Humble and Kind.” “It’s like a ripple effect,” d’Escoto said.
Joe believes the gift is indicative of something deeper: “This shows that God has a way of planning things.”
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