As a teacher, our students over time become like our own children. We care about them in the same way and want to help them when we find out they are in tough circumstances. Recently, a sweet, soft-spoken senior student of mine, who I had last year as well, (I'll refer to her as Melanie), revealed through a class presentation that her father had been arrested during the ICE raids and deported to El Salvador, where they are from, leaving her and her mom here in Tyler. Melanie has had to get a job to help her mom pay bills, and her dad has not yet found a job in El Salvador. They are having to move out of their house soon and live with relatives. Melanie is about to graduate, is a wonderful student with a bright future, and wants to work in mental health or social work one day.

Our class wants to do something for her and her mom, and since we don't know what they need, we decided to raise money for a Wal-Mart or Visa gift card to help with expenses and necessities. Any donation to this GoFundMe will be for Melanie and her mom.