- Another time when he was about 7 years old, we went to the
zoo, the Houston zoo back then
- was in bad shape and unfortunately we came across a dead
animal. Matt was horrified and
- became very upset over it, so we found a place to sit and I
tried to explain that it cost
- lots of money to pay employees to keep the zoo up and the
animals in good shape.
- Matt seemed to think they shouldn't be allowed to run it if
animals died; I agreed but
- had no solution for him. That's when he asked if I
could take him to the
- zoo office, he dug out every penny, nickel and dime he
had in his pockets, and counted a
- a total of .51 cents. He wanted to give it all to the zoo
caretakers to help care for
- the animals. So, we found the office and he took the
money to the people inside
- as he told them about the dead animal we saw. They
thanked him but otherwise
- didn't say a word. It wasn't long after that I read in
the paper how they were
- going to start charging a small amount per person but still
free on holidays, this was to help
- take care of the animals and better their environment.
I'd like to think Matt's
- words helped make the difference.
