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Student's touching answer to school assignment helps grandma get a new tooth

It all started when Karen Mitchell gave her first graders at Brookwood Elementary an assignment asking them what they would save for.

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A Snellville grandmother is getting some help from the community after her grandson wrote about her during a school assignment. 

It all started when Karen Mitchell gave her first graders at Brookwood Elementary an assignment asking them what they would save for.

While most students wrote down things like a new Lego set or an iPad, one student listed something that made Mitchell stop in her tracks.

"I will save my money for a tooth replace because I want to add a tooth to my grandma," it read.

Mitchell asked the student - Yunzhu Liu - why his grandmother needed her tooth replaced. He told her that his grandmother had not been able to go to the dentist in a long time and she needed another tooth so she could eat better. 

Credit: Provided

The teacher was so touched, she took to social media to see if any dental offices could help the family out. 

"I thought, 'wow.' How unique that he was so selfless to want to do something for his grandmother instead of focusing on himself," Mitchell told 11Alive. 

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One dentist in Stone Mountain reached out immediately and offered to see the boy's grandmother. 

After meeting with her, Dr. Son Van Nguyen and his wife - who also had a son who took the same class with Mitchell at Brookwood - offered to fix the tooth, give her a deep cleaning, and a once-a-year checkup - all for free. Mitchell said the immediate and overwhelming offers to help moved her deeply.

“I am in awe at the amount of attention and response this request received, although, I should not be surprised because we live in a wonderfully generous community,” she said.

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Mitchell said she set out to teach students about entrepreneurship and the lesson of saving, she was glad to see one student’s compassion shine though.

“Leading by love always wins,” she said.

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