Weller Elementary School second-grader Sylvia began asking her parents last fall if she could donate her life savings to Weller Elementary School’s playground fundraising efforts. The school is seeking to raise $200,000 to completely redo its playground, and she wanted to help.
She kept asking, and asking, and asking. And one day, she brought $120 to school — her entire life’s savings. She donated it to the school’s playground fundraiser.
“It took me five years to save up all that money,” she said.
When her teachers heard about her act of generosity, they wanted to pay it forward. Weller teachers personally matched her donation to return the student’s monetary gift to her. But to teach her that generosity is rewarded, they not only returned her initial $120, they doubled it – giving her $240 on the last day of school in front of her class.
“This is to show you that when you’re generous, good things happen,” said Shayla Bernelis, second-grade teacher at Weller. “You made an impact.”