Teacher Shares Invaluable Lesson with Students Every Year in Honor of Her Late Sister

Kristina Ulmer lost her sister, Katie Amode, in a car accident in 2014. Katie left work as a waitress with about $100 in cash tips that night. Kristina decided to do something with that money in honor of Katie, but she didn’t know what. Katie always tried to help others, and Kristina hoped to honor her mission, People reported. She kept the tip money until 2018 and found inspiration in teaching Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 to her freshman Englishclass. The $20 Kindness Challenge was born.

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The book felt like a warning to Kristina Ulmer that kids need connection with others now more than ever. So she gathered her sister’s money along with some of her own and gave each student $20. Her only stipulation was that they had to do something good with the cash.

“I told them to go out and do an act of kindness with it in the hopes that they would realize how important it is for us to be connected to each other and remain connected to each other and care about each other,” Kristina told People.

The students took the project seriously. Some helped people struggling with homelessness. Another used their money to purchase feminine hygiene supplies for a local shelter. Others pooled their money for bigger projects. But it didn’t stop there; the momentum continued.

That one English lesson birthed The $20 Kindness Challenge. In just Kristina’s class, 425 kids have participated in the challenge. This spring marks a huge milestone for the group. The $20 Kindness Challenge will give its first-ever grant to a New Jersey teacher so she can do the project in her classroom. Kristina thinks Katie is smiling big.

“I definitely think she is orchestrating all this,” she told People. “I see her reaction to all of this; I think she’d be really proud.”

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