Utah Teacher: Get Wedding Gifts For Homeless Students

WEST JORDAN, UT — A high school teacher in West Jordan plans to tie the knot in September, but don't get her any George Foreman grills, quesadilla makers or margarita mixers; instead, she's asking for shoes and backpacks to help out homeless students at her school.

Copper Hills High School teacher Rickee Stewart was shocked to learn that more than 100 students at her school are homeless — something she discovered when the school set up a food pantry.

"One of my students walked up very quietly and said, 'So, my mom wants to know how I can actually get some of that food,' " Stewart said. "It's very real." (For more information on the wedding and other Utah stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

The realization prompted Stewart to tell her wedding guests they can donate to her homeless student project in lieu of gifts, KSL-TV reported Thursday.

"I registered for tennis shoes and Converse and backpacks and winter coats for the homeless kids at our school," she said.

Donations have been pouring in from people who aren't even on the guest list — some who don't even live in Utah.

"It's not me. It's pure kindness of strangers," Stewart said.

The generosity has inspired her to work food bank donations into her classroom curriculum, she said.

"My hope is that we get to not only have this amazing wedding and start our lives together, but that we are able to put some warmth on all of those kids," she said.

Photo credit: The Deseret News via AP