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challenging words: |
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donation, pallets, volunteer, cases, paperwork, leftover, each, crispy, week, loser, pavement, jobs, working, classmate, bills, stock |
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content words: |
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Gallatin Valley Food Bank, When Ben, Soon Ben, As Ben |
1 Michael loved working at the Gallatin Valley Food Bank each week. He volunteered every Tuesday afternoon. He helped stock the shelves. He helped people find what they needed. He swept floors and cleaned out the refrigerator. Michael always had lots to do at the food bank!
2 The food bank was in a simple building, but it had a wonderful sign out front. The sign had lots of fruits and vegetables forming the letters of the name of the food bank. Fat purple grapes made some of the letters. Shiny red apples made other letters. It was a cheerful sign that made people smile.
3 On this sunny autumn afternoon, Michael was outside stacking pallets leftover from food donation deliveries. Today a local grocery store had given the food bank cases of cans of soup. Crispy leaves swirled across the pavement and crept under the parked cars. Michael loved the faint smell of dry leaves in the air.
4 Michael looked up and saw a blue car that he recognized. It was Ben, a boy from his grade at school. He waved at his classmate, but he was surprised to see a horrified look cross Ben's face. When Ben got out of the car, Michael walked over to him to see what was wrong.
5 "Hi, Ben!" said Michael.
6 Ben waved hesitantly. He did not look happy.
7 "Hi, Michael," said Ben.
8 "How's it going?" asked Michael.
9 "My dad lost his job," Ben blurted out. He looked really upset. "We are having trouble paying our bills, so my mom thought we could get some groceries here. I am so embarrassed. I didn't even want to come, but she asked for my help. Promise you won't tell anyone?"
Paragraphs 10 to 16:
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