It's so nice when kids give back to their teachers.
And this teacher from North Carolina must be truly beloved. Jennifer Marion's pupils - aged 7/8 - recently set up a lemonade stand to help her out.
Well, technically it's to help her pet bulldog Pearl.
Jennifer and her partner Jim adopted the pooch from LoveMuttsRescue last year. Pearl hadn't had an easy life before she met her kind owners.
She was treated badly, and after losing a litter of puppies at the tender age of one, she was abandoned, desperately ill.
But thanks to her owners' love and dedication, Pearl came out of herself and became the bossy, treat-mad bulldog she was meant to be.
However, she recently started to lose significant amounts of weight and was diagnosed with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, which means she doesn't have enough of the digestive enzymes to break food down.
Fortunately, her condition is treatable - but it ain't cheap. Her most recent treatment cost a staggering $10,000 (€8.500).
Loving 'mum' Marion decided to take some time off to be with Pearl as she recovered, and during her absence, five of her pupils decided to help her out.
The big-hearted kids manned a lemonade stand and raised $120 – a staggering amount for anyone who has ever tried to sell cold beverages from the sidewalk.
Their families baked pastries. They decorated the stand with fresh-cut sunflowers. They carried a sign that read, “Fight Like a Pearl.”
They kept it open for three hours on Sunday, waving at cars, flagging down runners, insisting on dog charity and brownie consumption.
"It feels really good to help dogs," said one pupil, Wrenn Yancey.
Jennifer and her fiance, Jim, have four dogs in all, and the second-graders know them all from the pictures plastered across the classroom. They use them in writing examples. On occasion, Jennifer even sneaks Pearl into school.
Naturally, Jennifer was touched by her pupil's actions.
“I cried the whole weekend,” Jennifer told CBS North Carolina. “I’m a big crier. The kids all know that. They were like, ‘Did you cry? Did you cry?’ ”
She's also delighted that the kids seem to have taken on board her lessons on empathy.
"One of the major things I like to impart on them is being compassionate about animals and empathy and these girls have clearly proven that they've gotten my message," she said.
Wonderfully, young Pearl is getting back on her feet. She's already up to 33 pounds, which is ten pounds heavier since her last treatment.Good to hear it!
