When times got tough for a Charleston, South Carolina community, the high school principal stepped in to make sure that his students wouldn’t suffer as a result. Henry Darby, the principal of North Charleston High School, grew up in that town and feels a strong bond to everyone there. As a result, he went above and beyond to help his students and their families, in a way that will warm your heart.
This community was hit especially hard by the pandemic.
It’s no secret that Covid-19 has introduced all sorts of new struggles for people across the globe. But in this North Charleston community, 90% of these high schoolers families live below the poverty line and have been particularly impacted by the economic challenges of Covid.
Mr. Darby cares deeply about his students both inside and outside of the academic settings, so watching his students and their families struggle during this time has been incredibly challenging for him. He often visits students at their homes or talks to them about their lives, and hearing about how some of his students are living made him determined to do something for them.
Henry Darby took on a major new responsibility to help his students.
In addition to being a principal, Darby knew he needed some way to directly help his students and their families. He did something that most people wouldn’t think of — he got a job to help earn money for other people.
Now, Darby works the graveyard shift, from 10pm to 7am at a local Walmart. He stocks shelves and works through the night, and he uses the money that he earns from this job to help his students in need.
After doing all this for his students, he asks only one thing of them.
Darby sums up his wishes for his students by telling Today:
“It’s quite simple, simplistic. Just learn to help others. That is one of the greatest things we can do in terms of human beings.”
He didn’t even want people to know what he was doing to help the community.
Henry Darby took on his extra job at Walmart without much flair. He did not tell his manager at Walmart about his other job and the extreme hours he was working, and he did not tell other people that he was doing this for his students. He didn’t want to attract attention to himself and he believes that doing good acts such as this should never involve making it about yourself.
So when people found out what he had been doing, they had to return the kindness.
When his colleagues and manager at Walmart found out what he had been doing to help the students, they were touched and shocked by the lengths this man went to for other people. They wanted to do something extra kind for him, in the name of continuing the work to help his students.
At a gathering with many of Mr. Darby’s students present, his manager from Walmart gave him a gift hidden by a bag. Inside the bag was a check for $50,000, paid to the order of North Charleston High School. All of that money is now going to go towards helping the students and their families of North Charleston High School, and it’s a pretty incredible gift.
There are so many educators who are determined to help their students beyond the classroom.
Mr. Darby is just one example of an educator whose work doesn’t stop when the school bell rings. Even after receiving this large check from Walmart, he still plans to continue working at Walmart and raising more money for his students.
While Henry Darby’s actions are above and beyond in terms of helpfulness, teachers everywhere do work to help support their students outside of the classroom all the time. It’s nice to see one educator’s hard work paying off and being supported like this.
Watch the video below to hear more of his story and to see for yourself the surprise from Walmart!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
