“I was on Twitter, just scrolling through, and this came up, a chance to have dinner with President Obama and some basketball stars. And my wife said, ‘You know how many people are gonna enter that contest?’ A few days later I got a phone call.”
—Sam Stroh, Social Studies teacher and high school basketball coach in Prairie Village, Kansas

“I’m regular contributor anyway. For me, when I see a tweet or an email or a Facebook post asking for donations, in my mind I’m thinking, ‘Could I donate now? Where are my bills—is that paid off?’ But when I saw this, I said yeah, I can give. But never in a million years was I thinking I would win.”
—Torski Dobson-Arnold, self-employed career advisor in Mechanicsville, Virginia

Last week in New York, Sam and Torski brought along their spouses for a star-studded dinner with President Obama and a host of basketball players including Michael Jordan, Alonzo Mourning, Sheryl Swoopes, and Rajon Rondo.

In their own words…

Torski: “In walks Chris Bosh, Juwan Howard, and Patrick Ewing—coming right up the same stairs we did. And I’m thinking, ‘Okay, we’re definitely the shortest people here now.’ I’m 5’5” and my husband swears he’s 5’7”, but I would not put money on it. So we were kind of star-struck.”

Sam: “We were still in awe, pinching ourselves and trying to figure out how the heck we got to be there.”

Torski: “I was trying to give my attention to the people at my table, but then I was like, ‘Hey! Did you see Paul Pierce behind us?’ It was like being a child in a candy store. I didn’t know what to look at first.”

Sam: “It was like a dream come true, and I’ve been sharing stories about how welcoming everyone was to my wife and me. We were like little kids running around with their heroes.”

Torski: “As we’re having a conversation with Alonzo Mourning, the lights dim and in walks President Obama—and all my nerves come right back. His mic was right in front of our table. I’ve been to his rallies before, but being so close was really awesome to me. I was trying to take it all in, and then Michael Jordan introduced him, for goodness’ sake! So [after the speech], the President meets us, and I shake his hand first. He looks right at me and says, ‘Torski, it’s wonderful to finally meet you.’ And I’m thinking, ‘He knows my name!’ So then we took a picture, and I’m pretty sure I was cheesing from ear to ear.”

Sam: “Throughout the night, in our three or four interactions with him, he always thanked us for being teachers. So it’s nice to know it means so much to him. [His support for education] is important to me because in my experience at college, every semester my tuition and fees went up. My options were to either drop out or take out more loans and keep plugging away, so that’s what I did. Education should be affordable for all, not just a select few.”

Torski: “Some of his policies are near and dear to me. The health care act allowed my adult children to stay on insurance. As a former college student, I know what it is to go without health care for four years. I remember how scared I was when I got sick. I’d get the flu and just treat it with counter medicine when I should have gone to the doctor. So I’m thankful my kids don’t have that fear on their shoulders.”

Sam: “The thing I’ll take away from this—throw the political stuff away for a second and take just the person we were able to meet, and the character he has and what he stands for—it was so amazing. Now I can discuss that with people who want to talk about the election. Being a coach, teacher, and father, it’s not easy to find time. But being involved in the political process—not only voting, but spreading the word and talking about it with friends and family—is a key part of this.”

Torski: “The President is very genuine in his personality, and he’s very sincere about getting to know you. We have a president who can relate to the average middle-class person, and knows what it is to build something from nothing and achieve your dreams, whether that’s being president or owning your own small business like I do. He also felt I was significant enough to know my name—and to know how to pronounce it because Torski’s not your average name. That part will forever stand out to me, and it’s a story I’ll share with my grandkids. One of the first things I’m going to do is get to the Virginia headquarters and not be a sayer, but a doer in securing the next four years for President Obama.”

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