MISSOULA - It's Teacher Appreciation Week, which is the perfect time to thank educators in the community.
Several businesses in Missoula are offering discounts and special offers for teachers as their way to show appreciation and support.
“Any kind of recognition, whether it's a hand-drawn card or just a sweet note from parents, could even be an email — just recognizing that what we do every day is not easy,” Russell Elementary School fourth grade teacher Molly Muir says. “Anything that just says a brief thank you is just a kind gesture.”
Now more than ever, teachers are in need of support, and this week dedicates time to ensuring educators feel that support.
“You know, with everything that's happened in the last couple of years, I think that our jobs are harder than ever,” Muir, who has been teaching for 11 years, says. “It's just a nice time to know that we have a supportive community around us.”
Green Source is one of the organizations showing outward support for local teachers by partnering with Charlie’s Produce to deliver over 600 smoothies to teachers across 13 different Missoula schools this week.
“It's really heartwarming to go into the schools and just bring smoothies and make people smile,” Green Source owner Jessica Wogsland says.
Wogsland thought of the smoothie idea last year, after seeing her own sister work hard as a first grade teacher at Jeannette Rankin Elementary School.
“Just realizing how hard teaching is in general and how hard it's been through COVID, and teachers are just struggling,” she says. “I decided last year, kind of last minute on a whim, to deliver smoothies to teachers.”
Wogsland says she has received lots of positive feedback for her smoothies.
She’s not the only one offering a gift to teachers.
Other businesses that have special deals this week for educators include:
- Firehouse Subs
- Loose Caboose
- JoAnns Fabrics
- Staples
- Michaels
- AR Workshop
