Third Grade Student Uses His Own Birthday Money To Give Teacher A ‘Raise’

Teachers are known to be underpaid in our country, their selfless service in shaping young minds and lives is often overlooked and they are poorly compensated.

But one 9-year-old wants to make a difference by give them a raise from his own pocket money.

Parker Williams of Tampa, Florida, a 3rd grade student at Gorrie Elementary School very much admires a teacher named Mrs. Chambers.

“Well, I think she’s a really kind teacher, and she has her own way of teaching and she spends time on everybody,” Parker said while adding that she had “the most important job.”

Parker thought a whole week of how he could show his appreciation to her, so he decided he would give her a salary raise.

“Dear Mrs. Chambers,” he began in a handwritten note, shared on Facebook. “I don’t think that teachers get paid enogh for what they do so will you exept this gift?”

He attached a carefully stapled, snack-sized baggie with $15, the money he received for his birthday and even wrote, “my own money” on it so that his teacher wouldn’t have any questions about the money.

His teacher replied back, without using her name, but the red ink and impeccable penmanship showed it was her. She wrote, “I can’t accept this but appreciate the gesture, Parker. Students like you are the reason I teach,” and ending with a smiley face.

Apparently Parker did all this without his parents having any idea about his plans, he reached out to Mrs Parker on his own.

“So I found this in Parker’s folder this morning,” Parker’s dad, Darrell Williams, posted on Facebook. It seems commenters on the post are not surprised by what Parker did.

“The first thing I thought about when I saw this was how your mom and dad raised you guys to think about other’s and how they showed that kindness towards me as well, you’ve seemed to have passed those same traits along to your sons!!!!” one commenter wrote under the post. “Priceless.”

Parker’s mom, Jennifer Williams, said they raised their three sons to value kindness. “We’ve said to them, when you plant seeds, you never know what will blossom,” she said.

“The first reaction was my eyes welling up with tears that my son had that reaction all on his own, that he would do that,” she added. “I cried. We never knew he did this until we found the note in his backpack.”

“I think more people should be nice,” Parker said, “it’s a better thing to do than being mean.”

Darrell and Jennifer Williams have taught their children a valuable lesson on kindness and no wonder Parker was led to show his admiration and appreciation towards his teacher in such a remarkable way.