“The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they had everything in common. …There was no needy person among them, and the proceeds…were distributed to each according to need.” (excerpts from Acts 4:32-37)

This is the heart of the AMDCS mission. This is where our hearts have to hear the future of our students, where we are called to embrace collaboration and change, where we cannot resist giving back what was given to us, and where our actions ensure the future we envision for our children — “now and for generations to come.”
~ Sr. Maureen Hilliard, Executive Director AMDCS

On the day of the Special Olympics, the children participating in the 50 yard dash got ready to compete – all lining up on the starting line. The starting whistle blew and off they dashed – one young girl dashing right out ahead of the others.

When the apparent champion was but a few yards from the finish line, she slowed down and looked back to see where her competitors were. When she saw them some distance away, she just stopped and waited. When the next competitor approached her, she reached out and held hands with him and then over and over again the gesture was repeated until all the children in the race were holding hands. Then, all together, they started to run again and crossed the finish line holding hands.

After the race an adult walked up to the “would–be champion” and said: “You should have kept going! You would have won!” But the little girl looked up in surprise. “Oh no,” she replied, “it was only when we all held hands and crossed the finish line together that we all won!”