WHITELAND, Ind. — Hundreds are pitching in to show support for staff members at Clark-Pleasant Community School Corporation.
It all started from a Facebook group created by Lynn Fahy, a mom and grandmother in the district.
She said she was tired of the criticism and negativity online and at school board meetings surrounding mask mandates and other school issues. So, she wanted to do some positive for teachers.
Within a few days, she had hundreds of members from the community wanting to help.
"She just started putting out on Facebook, 'Hey if I started a group to encourage teachers, who would want to help?' and parents overnight jumped on. You know, 'I'll help do this. I'll help do that. Let's get a group together and buy these things. Let's see if we can donate some things," said Brandi Speight, a media clerk at Pleasant Crossing Elementary School and co-organizer of the group.
She said it's been a stressful start to the school year, and the words of encouragement have really helped.
"It really was so encouraging to us to see how there was more of the community that wanted to uplift us than bring anybody down,” Speight said.
Quickly those Facebook posts turned into donations, which turned into care packages for the district's almost 1,000 staff members.
"Some of the bags have stress balls in them because we know a lot of the teachers are stressed right now. There is candy. There are goodies. There are things that are practical that a teacher would use in a classroom," Speight said.
The group is also making bags for custodians, bus drivers and administrators. They don't want to leave anybody out.
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Speight said it's a good reminder that sometimes it's not always the loudest voice in the room that's heard.
"Even if you are not seeing it on social media or hearing it every day, you are definitely appreciated, and this is just a very small way to show that," she said.
The group hopes to get the care packages out to staff members before fall break on Oct. 15.
They are still accepting donations and help. If you are interested, you can join the Facebook group "Clark-Pleasant Cares For Teachers."