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Treats, gifts, cards, and encouraging notes kept popping up in the staff lounge for weeks before the Christmas break as if they were delivered by happy Christmas elves.
Teachers’ eyes would light up in anticipation every day as they walked into the lounge to see a new arrangement of bagels, donut holes, or gift packages left especially for them. On Fridays, they could often expect to find lunch provided by parents who wanted to make sure that the school staff knew how appreciated they were for their hard work during exceptionally difficult teaching circumstances.
It’s not unusual for teachers to receive some extra love around Christmas. But this year, parents appeared to be exceptionally generous in light of these difficult times.
“In spite of all of this upheaval, people are still taking time to express their appreciation,” says Ruth Vale, the school’s accounting manager.
Vale says that people’s generosity has been especially meaningful this year because of COVID. Teachers and school staff have been through a lot in the last twelve months. They have had to make hard decisions and demonstrate incredible adaptability as they moved from traditional in-person teaching to 100% online teaching, and then to a hybrid model.
In a typical year, a parent committee would take the lead in organizing ways for the community to contribute food and gifts to teachers and staff during the holidays. But this year, it happened spontaneously.
“Parents just started stepping up and doing it,” says Vale.
In a time when spontaneous gratitude and generosity are much needed, Berean parents have truly stepped up.
A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. (Proverbs 11:25)