Our kids matter

Most folks will agree when you say that "our kids matter," but how many will actually show that on a daily basis? Yesterday, watching The Ellen DeGeneres Show, I had the joyous opportunity to see a woman who not only believes that our kids matter, but she apparently shows it ever single day. Sonya Romero, a teacher at Albuquerque's Lew Wallace Elementary School, was sitting with her son in the studio audience, when she got the surprise of her life!

It warms my heart when I hear stories of hometown heroes. This woman is one of those true heroes. Her students (both past and current) and her colleagues, gave her quite a thank you, in the form of a video that had been secretly recorded by Ellen's staff. Ms Sonya, as her kids called her, was in tears. Soon it was apparent that her son in the audience, was also in tears, and so was Ellen. It was indeed a very moving story.

Ms Sonya told Ellen that each morning in her classroom, she begins by asking her students if they need anything to eat or need clothes to wear, and she pays for things out of her own pocket. She explained that they sometimes spend up to an hour getting ready for the day and then she told Ellen "I feel like, as educators, we're sort of the first responders." What a wonderful way to look at things.  It wasn't just the giving of her money too - it was very obvious that she gave a lot of her time and her talent as well, and you could tell that she did so joyfully!

Watching all the praise, you could tell that she did indeed deserve it, but she seemed embarrassed too.  Watching Sonya Romero sit next to Ellen DeGeneres, I had tears in my eyes too when they presented her with two checks, one for her and the other for her school and both for $10,000.

 

Schools are often in financial need as are teachers.  How wonderful to spotlight this generous teacher and how great that both she and her school received such generous donations.  The Lew Wallace Elementary School principal Anne Marie Strangio, put a statement up on their website, if you would like to help them further, just click HERE.  I'm sure they would all be grateful!