When Laura Schroff heard a little boy ask for money on a busy day in New York, she did something few people do.

She turned around.

“What I do remember is the fact that he said he was hungry; those were the words that resonated in my head,” she said.

Instead of giving him money, Ms. Schroff invited Maurice to McDonald’s. So began the relationship that has lasted more than two decades between Ms. Schroff and Maurice Mazyck, who calls her his angel and has said “she saved my life at that moment.”

Mrs. Schroff has written a book about the experience titled “The Invisible Thread.” She will be speaking at a St. Paul Children’s Foundation fundraising luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Cascades Country Club.

“Thinking back on it, I absolutely believe our lives were meant to be intertwined,” she said. “I don’t think either of us had any idea how one simple lunch could have such a ripple effect. … People say to me all the time, Maurice was so lucky to have met me, and I say, ‘Are you kidding? I was so lucky to have met him.'”

Statistically, Maurice was in danger of going down the same dark road as his parents when he met Ms. Schroff at the age of 11. His mother and grandmother were addicted to drugs, and his father was heavily involved with gangs and drug dealing and hadn’t been involved in Maurice’s life since he was 6.

Our friendship “not only changed his life, it changed my life. The one thing about our friendship that makes me really proud is that Maurice broke the cycle of poverty, and drugs, and violence,” she said.

The two became more involved in each other’s lives; Mrs. Schroff invited him to baseball games, restaurants and cooked dinner at her apartment.

“He had never had an adult express interest in him. That’s what he loved,” she said. “I told him all the time I thought he was a really good kid; he just happened to get stuck in a really hard life. … You and I are used to having friendships in our lives, but for so many kids like Maurice and like the ones at St. Paul Children’s Foundation, they don’t necessarily have people in their lives that they can trust.”

Maurice now has a successful career in construction and was a partner in creating the book. He and his family still visit with Ms. Schroff regularly. Part of the proceeds of the book are donated to Share Our Strength: No Kid Hungry.

The story of Mrs. Schroff and Maurice is similar to the story of St. Paul’s, which now serves 40,000 per year, got started.

“Early one Sunday morning, as she hurried off to Sunday School at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Dana Malloy was approached by a young neighborhood Hispanic boy on his bicycle,” reads the organization’s website. “He asked, ‘Can anyone go to church here?’ Stunned that a child would think that they weren’t welcome in the church, Dana responded, ‘Well, of course! Come with me and I’ll show you in.’ To which he responded (quite horrified), ‘Oh no. My sister says this church is only for rich white ladies!'”

The same thing that connected Ms. Schroff and Maurice connected Mrs. Malloy and that boy, Ms. Schroff said.

“If she hadn’t stopped and thought about what he was really saying, that story wouldn’t have ended with the foundation,” she said. “It was an invisible thread that connected them. It’s an amazing story, I think.”

Tickets for the event are $50 and can be purchased at St. Paul Children’s Foundation or at LifeWay Christian Bookstore. Immed-

iately following the luncheon, Ms. Schroff will sign copies of her book, which also can be purchased at the event. Ms. Schroff also will make an appearance at 2 p.m. that day at LifeWay Christian Bookstore.

Call 903-531-9455, extension 114, or visit www.

stpaulchildren.org for more information.