Teacher fights back tears as she shares students' heartbreaking Christmas wishes
A Las Vegas teacher has helped make her students' Christmas wishes come true after she shared a video detailing their heartfelt gift ideas.
Cheri Guy, who works as an English teacher at Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas, went viral after she shared her TikTok video explaining how her school has a 'wishmas' programme to help get kids what they want for Christmas.
"Not only do [the kids] say what they would like, but they say why it's important to them," Guy explained in the clip.
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The teacher fought back tears as she went on to read some of items that kids were wishing for, with many of the suggestions offering a telling insight to their lives.
"I would like some black slippers to protect my feet from the cold," one child wrote.
"A bag of takis... It will help me not be hungry," wrote another.
Other students wanted to use their wish to help other people, with one expressing hope that all the other students' wishes would come true, while another just wanted their sister to have a good birthday.
Guy pointed out that with a school of 3,000 students, she couldn't make all of their wishes come true. However, she was hopeful that she'd be able to get some help from TikTok.
"If you're interested in helping, DM me, comment, let me know, spread this around. Maybe we could do something to try and make some of these things happen," Guy said.
It didn't take long after Guy posted the video for it to get picked up and shared around, and the teacher has since spoken to Today about the impact it's had.
She told the publication: "We have a lot of kids who are in the foster system, we have a lot of kids who are living in poverty. These kids are facing enormous stress outside of the classroom.”
Thanks to her viral video, social media users from all over started working to make the kids' wishes come true.
“We have well over 300 wishes granted, which is amazing,” Guy told Today, though there are 950 students participating in the Wishmas program in total.
“A few of the seniors are asking for a yearbook because they can’t afford it. I’m looking at the spreadsheet right now and one kid asked for help paying for their cap and gown for graduation,” Guy said.
“We have a student who asked for a textbook called ‘Lectures on Physics’ because he wants to be an astrophysicist.”
By making the students' dreams come true, Guy pointed out, the kids realize they 'are loved'.
"Not just by the staff at school, but by strangers around the country (who) care about them and believe in them,” she said.
If you'd like to donate something to the Wishmas program, you can do so here.
Emily Brown