SCRANTON, Pa. — Spreading joy is something people all over are trying to do right now. But this particular challenge actually has nothing to do with the Coronavirus pandemic; it just so happens now is the time people need joy, most.
"I said, 'I can do that with my kids.' We have 800 kids, and they would be more than happy to do anything like that," Rosemary Robertson said.
Rosemary Robertson is an art teacher at Northeast Scranton Intermediate. She heard about the Spread Joy Challenge and made it a homework assignment for her students last week. The students were supposed to write one or two sentences about what they did that day to spread joy. The responses were not something Mrs. Robertson and her family were prepared for. Instead, she received paragraphs of amazing stories, so she recruited her 14-year-old daughter to help her post the responses online.
Mrs. Robertson told Newswatch 16 about one of her favorite responses.
"So what she wrote to me. My heart was bursting; it was beautiful what she did. Every day she did something special for her sisters. On day 5, it was the big reveal. It has run the gamut, the different things they have done to spread joy. It's amazing."
Spread Joy is actually a nonprofit that Scranton native Lindsay Stetson and her husband started shortly before she died in early March after a battle with cancer.
"Before she passed away, Lindsay had wanted so much of what she was doing to go back to the Scranton area because this is where she was born and raised, and she knew what kind of people were here."
The Spread Joy Challenge helps families going through a tough time, and even though Lindsay moved away from the area after she graduated from Scranton Prep in 2001, her Scranton family rallied behind her in this campaign.
"I just think this area is resilient, and the kids can bounce back from anything. I think if we have faith and we keep being strong and the kids will just follow suit."