Tennessee teacher admits to crying during class after a student’s food question

A teacher found herself in tears during the workday after she had a discussion with one student about the lack of food he had, and it inspired the school to create a food pantry for children. 

Brooke Goins, who works for Jacksboro Elementary School in Jacksboro, Tennessee, shared on Facebook on October 2 a conversation she had with one of her students about food.   

‘Today I cried at work. Not because I hate my job, or that it is just too hard (it really is). Today I cried for a child, a child who so innocently talked about food, and the lack of it,’ Brooke wrote at the beginning of her post, before recalling: ‘He asked when the lady that puts food in his backpack was coming.’

Contributing: In a Facebook post, she revealed how one student asked her about food. The conversation broke her heart and she went out to buy food for the child 

After admitting that she was ‘caught off guard’ by the question, Brooke explained that she knew it was the guidance counselor who would sometimes slip food into students’ bags. 

‘I told him I wasn’t sure about this week since it is a short week,’ the post continued. ‘He told me he was out of [food] at home and needed more.’ 

The teacher went on to ask the student exactly what he liked to eat, listing off foods like macaroni and cheese and SpaghettiOs, which were all things that the guidance counsellor had put into kids’ backpacks in the past. 

That was when the student explained to her that his family was never able to have SpaghettiOs at home. 

‘He looked at me and said, “Those little o’s (as he made a small circle with his hand), we don’t have those at my house, but when I do have them they give me a warm belly and help me sleep,”‘ she wrote. 

This moment caused Brooke to cry right in front of all her students, partly because she never wanted any of her students to go hungry. 

‘I lost it, I cried in front of 20 little people. No kid should ever be hungry, ever,’ she continued. 

Brooke immediately texted a group of teachers from her school to see what everyone could do to provide food for the student. 

Making a difference: After Brooke shared the moment on Facebook, the school decided to launch a food pantry for all students with the support of the local community

Together, they all pooled their money and were able to get some items for him to take home that day. 

‘Yep, we put our money together and made sure that this sweet baby had some spaghetti o’s,’ she wrote, sharing an image of the grocery store cart with all the food items inside. 

Her purpose of sharing the moment on Facebook was not so that people would praise the teachers for helping out the student. Instead, Brooke wanted others to understand just how much teachers care. 

‘I did not write this for anyone to get praise, nobody did it for the praise,’ Brooke wrote. ‘I want people to know that teachers are humans, we love your kids and want the very best for them. 

‘Some days we get frustrated and feel overwhelmed, but today we did what was best for a child. Will it show on a test score? Nope! Do we care? Nope!’

To Brooke’s surprise, her post quickly went viral with people praising the teacher, though she asked them not to, for going above and beyond for her students to make sure they were all fed. 

Jacksboro Elementary School has since opened a food pantry for the students at the school so everyone can make sure each child will go home with items to eat. Brooke asked for people in the area to consider donating. 

‘I work at an amazing school with awesome people who truly love what they do! Thank you all for offering anything and everything, you guys rock,’ Brooke wrote.