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How a woman in the registrar's office made a music teacher feel less alone

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Time now for "My Unsung Hero," our series from the team at the Hidden Brain podcast. "My Unsung Hero" tells the stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else. Today's story comes from Kim Perlak. In 2009, Perlak had just finished grad school, was juggling roles as an adjunct music professor at three different colleges, while also working for a couple of nonprofits. Running from place to place made it hard to feel like she was part of any kind of community. Perlak recalls it was tiring and a little disheartening.

KIM PERLAK: One morning, I'm going to one of the campuses, and I've got a guitar, and I've got two bags in each hand. And I'm walking down the path to the music building, and I trip. And my lunch, which is chili in a plastic container, flew out of my bag and hit the pavement and exploded everywhere. And I looked around, and I was totally alone. And I just stopped, and I had this moment. And I said to myself, what am I doing? Why am I doing this with my life?

And the thing is that I didn't know was that I wasn't alone because there's this wonderful woman in the registrar's office, and she had seen the entire thing from her window. And she must have figured out who I was. And she took a break and drove out to go to the place everybody loved, like, everybody's favorite lunch place, and bring me back this feast. And so when I came into the little music adjunct office, there is a bag on the table. It had a sandwich. It had snacks. It had a drink. It had a coffee. And there was a little note on there, and it said - dear Dr. Perlak, I saw you come in this morning, and I wanted to make sure you have lunch. I hope you have a great day.

And it really changed everything for me. It changed everything about how I felt in that community. It felt like I belonged there. It felt like people did want to know me. And it also felt like - to me, it changed the way I was now in that community because I started thinking that way, more outside of myself. And I have to say that all these years later, I think about her all the time. And when I'm at my job now, in my department, I think about all the little things like that that I could do for other people.

(SOUNDBITE OF KIM PERLAK'S "COMMON GROUND")

PERLAK: I had a wonderful grandmother who used to say, any day can be improved by a sandwich and a cup of coffee. (Laughter) And I think this woman proved that to me. And now I get to prove that to everybody else because of her.

(SOUNDBITE OF KIM PERLAK'S "COMMON GROUND")

KELLY: Kim Perlak of Brookline, Massachusetts. She went on to become chair of the guitar department at the Berklee College of Music. The song you're hearing right now is from one of her solo albums, "Common Ground."

You can find more stories of unsung heroes and learn how to submit your own at hiddenbrain.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.