After Losing Her Sister, This Teacher Found a Beautiful Way to Inspire Kindness in Her Students

After losing her sister, this teacher found a beautiful way to inspire kindness in her students. After an unimaginable loss, some people retreat inward. Others quietly choose to let love move outward. Kristina Ulmer chose the second path.

In 2014, Kristina lost her sister in a car accident. In the stunned hours that followed, she and her parents stood at the scene searching for something—anything—that still felt like her. In her sister’s wallet was a small stack of cash, tips from waitressing shifts worked faithfully on the side. Kristina held onto that money, unsure what to do with it, tucking it away in a drawer where it stayed for four long years.

Teacher Finds a Unique Way to Spread Kindness

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Life moves forward, as it does. Kristina became a ninth-grade English teacher at Hatboro-Horsham High School. One semester, her students were reading ‘Fahrenheit 451,’ a novel meant to warn about a future stripped of empathy and connection. As she taught, Kristina felt the tug of her sister’s heart—the way she always noticed people, always cared.

That’s when the idea came.

Kristina took the money and turned it into something living. She called it the ‘$20 Kindness Challenge.’ Each semester, she gives every student $20 with one instruction: use it to do good. What happens next is never the same.

Some Students Pooled Their Money Together

One student, Ellie, spent her money making bracelets for elementary school students, carefully grouping them by grade. Another, Victoria, chose to support a nonprofit helping dogs in need. Peter noticed how much more powerful generosity felt when students pooled their money together. Charlie gave his gift toward Parkinson’s research, honoring his father’s long fight with the disease.

The kindness didn’t stop at the act itself. Students created videos reflecting on what they learned, and something shifted. Classrooms became warmer. Students felt seen. Purpose replaced indifference.

Word spread. Donations poured in. Over the years, hundreds of students have had the chance to practice compassion with their own hands. Teachers from across the country began reaching out, asking how they could start something similar.

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But the quiet miracle kept happening in Kristina’s heart, too. Each story shared, each act of generosity, softened the ache she carried. It felt like her sister’s legacy unfolding right in front of her—love multiplied through young people learning that kindness isn’t small and that generosity doesn’t require perfection.

Kristina looks at her students with hope. Not because they are flawless. But because they are willing.

And she believes, deeply, that this next generation just might save the world.

“Do not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

WATCH: After Losing Her Sister, This Teacher Found a Beautiful Way to Inspire Kindness in Her Students

LISTEN: A Family Looks to God for Hope After Losing Their Son | They Said He Might Not Survive, Teen Burn Victim Is Finally Going Home

h/t: CBS News

Featured Image Credit: YouTube/CBS Mornings

Heather Riggleman is a believer, wife, mom, author, social media consultant, and full-time writer. She lives in Minden, Nebraska with her kids, high school sweetheart, and three cats who are her entourage around the homestead. She is a former award-winning journalist with over 2,000 articles published. She is full of grace and grit, raw honesty, and truly believes tacos can solve just about any situation. You can find her on GodUpdates, iBelieve, Crosswalk, Hello Darling, Focus On The Family, and in Brio Magazine. Connect with her at www.HeatherRiggleman.com or on Facebook.