COVID

‘You are the true superhero’: How thank you notes from New Jersey students were distributed throughout Boston’s hospitals

"No one really thinks to say, 'Hey, thank you.' But at the end of the day, you have to."

By Jenna Ciccotelli

June 1, 2020

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email
• Email

Even through a computer screen, Rachel Weir could tell her fifth and seventh grade students were struggling to grapple with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The first-year English teacher at Primary Prep Elementary and Middle School in Jersey City, N.J., felt she had to act.

“They were feeling really down,” said Weir, a native of New Milford, Conn. “They really didn’t know what was going to happen next with the coronavirus, and they didn’t know how they could make an impact.”

Weir had her students write letters to essential workers on the front lines to thank them. After she saw a positive response, she shared the idea with other teachers in her school. Together, Primary Prep students wrote 65 letters that Weir was able to share with firefighters, police officers, medical workers, and grocery store workers across the country – in San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, New Jersey, and Boston.

Hospital workers in Chicago received letters from students through the Dear Heroes Project.

With the help of connections at Boston-area hospitals, letters were distributed at Boston Medical Center and Beth Israel Deaconess in addition to Mass General. Sarah Stratton, a 2019 Boston University graduate who works as a medical scribe at Mass General, helped distribute about a dozen letters there.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAeTeC7DyXI/

“The response has been overwhelmingly positive so far,” Stratton said. “We’ve gotten some great feedback from a lot of the ER doctors at MGH. These letters [are] kind of something they weren’t expecting to receive after a long day.

“No one really thinks to say, ‘Hey, thank you.’ But at the end of the day, you have to. They’re risking a lot of their lives for the rest of us, and these small letters are really making an impact.”

Dr. Alister Martin, an emergency department doctor at Mass General, received a letter from fourth-grader Brody.

“You are inspiring me to take care of my community,” Brody wrote.

Well if this ain’t the cutest post ED shift email I’ve ever received. pic.twitter.com/zTmphJyEy9

— Alister Martin (@AlisterFMartin) May 18, 2020

As the project grew, Weir recruited friends to help build a website and turn what was a simple class project into a real organization, dubbed the “Dear Heroes Project.” Weir said her students “felt incredible” when they learned how their letters were being received nationwide, and were eager to continue to contribute. One student is committed to writing one letter every day.

“They’re just so excited,” she said. “They really see that these small acts of kindness really go a long way.”

Anyone is encouraged to get involved with the Dear Heroes Project, by writing a letter, nominating a hero to receive one, or simply sharing the organization’s website.

“It’s a great way to spread that positivity,” Weir said. “Even [if people] send it out on their Instagram story or put it on Facebook or put it in a Facebook group that they’re in, it’ll just spread so much positivity.”