WOODBURY, Ga. — No act of kindness is ever too small. Children at Flint River Academy in Woodbury, Georgia are learning that in real-time–as they donate $1 at a time to try and help their art teacher bring her parents to safety.
Natalyia Genzlinger "Ms. G" has been teaching art at the school for a year, while her family has been in Ukraine.
The students at Flint River Academy know everything about Ms. G's parents, she shows them pictures and talks to the kids about how special they are.
The students said they've adopted the 82 and 85 year olds as their Ukrainian grandparents.
So, as the situation over there gets worse by the day, they knew they had to do something to help.
Sunflowers cover the walls at Flint River Academy–the students painted them in honor of their beloved art teacher.
"She is a phenomenal art teacher, she has taught these kids so much," elementary school teacher Lisa Hall said.
Ms. G is from Ukraine. She taught her students about the national flower and the beauty of her home country. She told them about the heartache of having her elderly parents trapped there when she was so far away.
"The night after we started talking, the city of Lviv was bombed, and her parents are in that town," Hall said.
Hall and Robin Smith teach 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade at the academy, and as the situation got worse in Ukraine, they knew they wanted to help Ms. G.
The faculty and staff decided to take up a love fund to help her rescue her parents.
"When Ms. Hall said, I will pledge $100, then everyone else just jumped on the bandwagon and it exploded!! Within two days," Smith said.
They knew it would take a lot to get Ms. G's parents to safety.
They would have to hire a private bus to drive them across the border; they're elderly and couldn't walk.
Ms. G would have to meet them in Poland and then get them all a flight back to the U.S.
The teachers went big to try and make this happen for her–but they said it was the small things the students started doing that meant the most.
"They started bringing in their Tooth Fairy money, their ice cream money, money they dug out from under the car, all the way to the silver dollar," Smith said.
A 3rd grader handed Ms. G her lucky silver dollar before she left for Ukraine, and Ms. G brought it with her.
She got her parents across the border and as soon as they were safe, she sent a picture of her parents holding that silver dollar back to Flint River Academy.
"This is very symbolic and I can't wait to share my grandparents with you," Hall said.
She said that picture showed the students that what they do for people, the kindness they offer, matters.
"Even the youngest of the children, they see things on the TV, they know something's not right, and they feel our helplessness, they feel that. They learn that no matter how small, how little the gift seems or how young they are. Every prayer, every gift, every act of kindness is so valued, especially now," Smith said.
Ms. G will land in Atlanta with her parents Thursday evening, as soon as they get settled–she plans to bring them into Flint River Academy so they can meet everyone who loved them enough to bring them to safety.