Cafeteria Worker Is Penning Encouraging Messages On Bananas
Stacey Truman is working hard at sending children motivating messages in what some may find a rather unusual but inventive way. ABC News reports that Stacey is an elementary school cafeteria worker on a mission to encourage kids any way possible.
An elementary school in Virginia has something quite unique going on with its cafeteria fruits thanks to Stacey Truman, a mother of two. She’s not just any cafeteria worker. Stacey is the cafeteria manager of Kingston Elementary School in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She takes her job very much to heart, waking up each morning far before most of the students to hand write words of encouragement on each banana she puts out for mealtime.
It's time to go bananas for school cafeteria manager Stacey Truman! We will talk with her about how she's finding new ways to keep her students motivated every single day. Get ready…we just may have a surprise for her live next on @GMA.
— Robin Roberts (@RobinRoberts) December 10, 2018
These messages are sometimes a simple, “Smile!” and other times lengthier, encouraging kids to “Follow your dreams.” Stacey spoke to reporters and to Good Morning America, remarking that she just wants to spread more positivity outward and into the youth of today.
“The kids need motivation…they need to hear good things. They are our future so, why not? They need to hear all of this and be inspired every day.”
Her own two daughters love the notes that their mother leaves for them on their bananas, and Stacey decided that it was enough motivation to share the happy and encouraging messages with other children. This started because Stacey Truman worked two jobs at one point, and she was rarely able to see her two daughters. She told Good Morning America that oftentimes she would not see her two children for a “week at a time,” so she started leaving them banana notes. It was her own mother who insisted that Stacey should send these motivational messages out to her students. Now, kids at Kingston Elementary School in Virginia are calling these fruits “talking bananas.”
“I would do it for them so they would know how much I love them…They say that it makes them a better person and a better friend”
Apparently, the encouraging and kind words on these potassium-wielding snacks are causing a ripple effect of positivity, according to Stacey Truman, who says that the children at school tell her the bananas also help them be mindful to others and their friends.
Stacey’s “talking bananas” have officially gone viral. Dole, the widely distributing fruit company, sent hundreds of bananas to Kingston Elementary School after catching wind of Stacey’s efforts. More than 500 bananas rolled into the school. That’s a lot of notes, and Stacey is more than happy to write them.
