TAMPA, Fla. (WSVN) — With the help of a social media post and some generous strangers, a Florida teacher was able to give dozens of students a sweet Easter surprise.
Fifth-grade students lined up outside Brent Walker’s classroom at a Tampa elementary school, Friday morning, waiting for a surprise.
“I wanna see their faces light up,” said Walker.
He wanted to do something special for his students, so he went to Walmart to buy plastic eggs for an Easter egg hunt.
“And I saw these premade easter baskets, and they were $10,” said Walker, “and I thought, ‘Man, I wish I had enough money to be able to buy one for my homeroom.'”
Walker posted on Facebook, asking his friends to sponsor a student…
And within an hour, he had $700 — mostly in $5 to $10 donations.
“I’ve been given through Venmo and PayPal, you know, so money was just money coming in right and left,” said Walker. “My phone was blowing up. I couldn’t even keep track of it all.”
Walker ended up with enough money to buy baskets for every member of the fifth-grade class.
He showed up bright and early on Friday to play Easter bunny.
“I can’t wait to see them walk in and see something big sitting on their desk,” said Walker.
Walker hopes the unexpected gifts will reinforce the lesson he’s been teaching all year — that kindness and action equals joy.
“I keep telling them, ‘There are people all over the world that you don’t even know who are giving money to help you succeed and caring about your education,” said Walker. “And so this is a great example of that — people giving because they care about my students that they’ve never met. ”
Walker said the leftover money from the basket donations will be used for other classroom activities throughout the year.
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