An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff

 

Laura Schroff was a busy Manhattan executive.  One day as she was rushing to her next appointment, she was stopped by a young boy on the street who asked for money and said he was hungry.  She walked on but then turned around and took him to MacDonalds where he did indeed eat as if he were starving.  The boy said he was Maurice.  They agreed to meet in the same place the next Monday and Maurice was indeed there.  Soon the meetings became a weekly standard and Laura learned that Maurice's lived with his mother and siblings.  She didn't know that eleven people lived in a one room apartment in substandard housing or that Maurice's entire family were drug addicts and dealers.

The meetings continued and soon Laura became Maurice's touchpoint to a different life.  They baked cookies and had holidays such as Christmas where Maurice got his first present in his life.  They visited Laura's family and Maurice was amazed at houses with lawns and big tables where families sat and talked after a meal.  Basically, Laura was turning Maurice's life around.  When he got older, the two were separated when Laura got married to a man who did not approve of the relationship and Maurice got off the rails for a while.  But he managed to get by and as adults, the two have continued to be in each other's lives.  

This is an optimistic story of a woman who took the time to make a change in someone else's life.  It is less clear if this would be the result of every story where someone tried to make a difference.  Many in the field believe that only this kind of intensive one on one mentoring has a chance of changing someone's life and Maurice found that in Laura.  This book is recommended for nonfiction readers.