"One highlight for me on the day we handed out the backpacks on behalf of KidsFest was at the very last school. That school is about a block and a half up the road from our home.

Picture if you will an assembly full of children, a stage full of back packs and a vice principal full of enthusiasm.

He was calling out names as though they were the next contestant on "The Price is Right", and when the students heard their name they were to stand. Luke (a partner with Aerobics First) would run to them and hand them a certificate for a pair of professionally fitted sports shoeS, and one of the PAXnorth team would run to them with a backpack FULL of school supplies.

The place was nearly vibrating with excitement as they waited for the next name to be called.

Then the name of a little girl was called and no one stood. The principal and VP scanned the crowd for her or her student mentor. Then someone pointed and I looked to see who she was. The mentor was saying, "That's YOU!!" to a little girl with Down's Syndrome who was sitting beside her. The little girl mouthed, "That's ME!" and put her face in her hands and started to cry. Her mentor was crying. I was crying. Luke was nearly losing it himself as he approached her and was gently saying, "Look what you got!"

She was equal. She had as much a chance of having her name drawn as any other student in the room. Everyone was cheering for her. She belonged.

And that was the WHOLE point for me. These children all belong to our community and need to be treated equally. By presenting these four schools with backbacks we gave the kids more of a level playing field to belong.

When a child shows up to school and doesn't have the proper supplies with which to do their work, they feel that they aren't as good as other kids who do have all those things. The backpack itself is a small part of the gift we give these students. By just having those basic needs, they now are an equal. That does so much for a child's confidence.

I will never forget that one little girl. No matter how many times we are ambassadors for KidsFest that will stand out in my mind. It'll be pretty tough to top."