The pandemic has been as hard on the well-being of teachers as on youth. So, when the members of the Anne Sullivan School Ambassadors Club were chosen as a recipient of a Hershey Heartwarming Action Project Grant, they decided they needed something to boost the morale of their school staff.

Anne Sullivan is an upper elementary (grades 4-5) school in Prospect Heights, Illinois. A middle-class suburb of Chicago, Prospect Heights is a diverse community. In the halls of Anne Sullivan, it’s not uncommon to hear Spanish and Polish spoken, and more recently Ukrainian and Russian, too.

School librarian Betsy Yager, a 30-year teaching veteran, started the Ambassadors Club in 2008 to help build a culture of service and engagement. Every year, two students from each class are chosen to represent their class in the club. Together, club members choose one local and one global cause for which the school is going to volunteer and/or fundraise. They plan and organize the school events to support those causes, then the representatives go back to their classes as ambassadors (hence the name) to tell them about the plans, and rally their classmates to join in.

In past years, the students have supported global projects like building a school in southeast Asia, wells to bring clean water to communities around the world, and the installation of solar panels on a health center in Haiti. Within their own community, the Ambassadors Club has rallied their fellow students to create a scholarship fund to send local kids in need to summer camp, and to do joint activities like concerts and game sessions with the seniors at a local assisted living home. In January 2022, when students were finally able to return to class after COVID, they were given a choice between online and in-person learning. When the Ambassador’s Club met again in person for the first time since the pandemic began, they talked about how their teachers were working harder than ever, having to do both in-class and online lessons. They quickly agreed that this year, their local cause should focus inward on supporting their own school community.

Taking action to support the mental well-being of those around you is a key component of the WE Well-Being program. And with a gift card they received through the Heartwarming Project Action Grant initiative, the Ambassador’s Club went shopping. Comfy warm socks, candles, Chapstick, hand lotion, chocolates, mints, bookmarks, crossword puzzle books—every kind of little gift imaginable that might cheer someone up and help relieve stress landed in their shopping carts.

Then the club members set to work decorating gift bags with art, jokes, and statements of appreciation and positive affirmation. Each bag was packed by the students, its contents custom tailored to every person working at the school – teachers, custodians, secretaries, support workers, even parent volunteers. They all had a special bag made up for them.