Helping students feel less alone: Hope for Uvalde

How Hearts of Hope supports students in school

Offering support to a grieving person is a continuous process. It continues on in a healing cycle, just like grief continues and evolves over time. Tammy Miller, a teacher who brought the Hearts of Hope program to her school in Florence, Arizona, has seen how this works.

As the eighth grade class at Tammy’s school missed their usual traditions due to COVID-19, Tammy saw the impact it had on students. Eighth-graders were disappointed and scared, and students throughout the school felt disconnected from one another in the lingering pandemic.

Tammy had led Hearts of Hope workshops before, but this time, she decided to give back to the students closest to her–the eighth-graders down the hall. Her sixth grade class spent hours painting ceramic hearts for each eighth-grader, along with individualized notes of support from the school’s teachers.

“We wanted them to feel safe and secure. We wanted them to know that even though they were moving on, they would always have a place in our hearts. They were so excited to get these letters from teachers and hearts from the students. There were tears–there were students literally in tears.”

Tammy’s school has continued Hearts of Hope. The school maintains a Wall of Hope, where anyone in the community can ask for a ceramic heart when they are in need. When one heart is given away, another is painted to take its place.

“It will always be replenished,” Tammy says. “It is like a living monument of hope.”

Now, Tammy plans to bring this programming to her new school in North Carolina. Like her school in Arizona, Tammy’s new school district faces economic challenges. Your support helps Hearts of Hope offer programs to schools like Tammy’s. When you donate to our Hope for Uvalde campaign, your contribution will bring these impactful programs to the Uvalde community.