PITTSBURGH – When visiting her mother at The Wyngate, a senior living community in Weirton, WV, Sarah Posti, a third-grade teacher at The Campus Laboratory School of Carlow University, came up with an idea for a service project for her students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“My mom has good days and bad days, as do most of us. But right now she has very little connection to her family,” Posti said. “Many residents don’t have or no longer know how to use technology. I know my mom would love to see handwritten, handmade cards from my students, and I thought, ‘If mom would love it, think of all the elderly out there who would rejoice in getting something special in the mail.’”
So she introduced the idea to her students, who are learning remotely during these times of social distancing.
“We discussed the project during one of our class sessions held on Zoom,” Posti said.
And the reaction from her students has been overwhelmingly positive.
“My students have been making and sending cards,” she said. “They have been excited about creating cards, sending me pictures, and then sending them out to various places.”
Posti said some of her students are sending cards to their grandparents, and for those students who don’t have someone to send cards to, other parents are sharing addresses of family and friends who could benefit from receiving a greeting, she said.
“One parent sent me an address for her 91-year-old grandmother, who is the mail carrier at the facility where she lives,” Posti said. “She said her grandmother loves to pass out the cards to her fellow residents.”
That same parent sent her the following comment: “This crisis is really showing our nation how AMAZING our teachers are. I hope you know how much we appreciate you! You are working double time for your family and your students. Teachers are truly the best example of modern- day superheroes!”
Posti says the next service project she is planning for her students will honor those people on the front lines of this crisis: doctors, nurses, firefighters, police, EMTs and grocery store workers. The class will be brainstorming soon to make sure no one is left out.