SOUTHSIDE — The Southside Middle School Student Council will soon show a little love to its local law enforcement and emergency-response community.
Show a Little Love, the Student Council’s inaugural Valentine’s Day appreciation event, will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the school’s library.
“We are inviting local law enforcement, EMTs, first responders, fire and rescue — anyone who has to do with that kind of emergency personnel,” said Abby Barker, Student Council sponsor and sixth-grade teacher. “We would just like to honor them. We feel like they do so much for us. They are always there when we need them.”
Student Council members, who are all sixth-graders, said the idea for Show a Little Love came up when looking for projects to show support.
“What we wanted to do is, we wanted to honor our local EMTs and law enforcement and just show them appreciation for what they do,” sixth-grader Callie Jo Robbins said.
The mayors from Batesville and Southside have been invited to Show a Little Love, along with their local departments and volunteer departments. Barker said she hopes to see 25 to 30 on-duty workers attend.
Show a Little Love will be a reception that includes refreshments and words or poetry presented by members of the Student Council.
Sixth-grader Chloe McCance said that to her, Valentine’s Day is about showing love for those who love you back and help you with everyday life.
“I hope that they learn that we honor them, and we really take it serious about this, and we think we should be giving back to them, and they see how much we really appreciate them,” she said.
Callie said she would also like for Show a Little Love guests to know they are important.
“I really think [Valentine’s Day] means just to show love and appreciation for people who do a lot for you — and maybe people who don’t. You just show love for those people,” she said.
For two weeks, the student council sold suckers and raised $500 to sponsor a seat at Southside Charter High School’s new auditorium. The seat will include a plaque thanking the local emergency responders and law enforcement officials for their service.
“Also at the reception, we will present a check to Mr. [Roger] Rich, our superintendent, and it will be in honor of purchasing the seat in honor of our local heroes,” Barker said.
Barker said she and the 15 student council members agreed that Valentine’s Day would be the best time to hold the recognition event.
“The concept of showing people that we love and appreciate them, we thought Valentine’s Day would be a perfect time to do that,” she said. “We’re hoping that this can be something that we can do every year. We don’t know if we’ll honor the same people every year or if we’ll choose a different group next year to honor.”
The Student Council members are all go-getters, Barker said.
“They are kids that [when] someone said there is a need, they’re all over it,” she said. “At Christmas, we supported our local Angel Tree. All I had to do is say, ‘Kiddos, what do we want to do for Christmas?’ and they said, ‘We want to do Angel Tree!’ They have huge giving hearts. They do the announcements every day over the intercom. There are a lot of times the principal needs input from students. He will almost always contact the Student Council kids, ask for their opinion, ask for their input.”
Barker said she hopes the law enforcement and emergency-response guests who attend Show a Little Love learn that Southside Middle School appreciates their service.
“I hope they know when they walk out of here on Valentine’s Day that they are loved and they are appreciated, and their efforts and their sacrifices are appreciated, and that they’re noticed,” she said.
Staff writer Syd Hayman can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or shayman@arkansasonline.com.