SUMTER, S.C. — Just three days away from the first day of school in Sumter County, and residents gathered today to pray while walking through the halls of schools in Sumter and Lee county.
"We know that's not an easy job. And kids are going through a lot," Kristen McCaskill explains about why she helped organize the school prayer walk.
"I think it's important because I think teachers need to know that what they do matters. They spend more time with kids sometimes even than their parents get the chance to do and they leave such an impact on children," McCaskill says.
Dozens of people gathered at Alice Drive Baptist Church on Monday morning to pick up prayer cards and leave them for faculty and staff at schools.
"I was a teacher before I stepped into ministry and so I can remember saving those notes," McCaskill, the church's kids' minister, says. "And on the day that it was a rough day looking at it going, ‘Okay, I'm prayed for, I'm cared for, I'm seen."
From public to private to charter, McCaskill tells me visitors went to every school in both counties.
"So we get to pray for the teachers, their classrooms, but we know that we're praying for the kids that are represented by those classrooms because we know in just a couple of days, we're gonna be full of kids and they're all bringing in something unique," McCaskill says. "So we want to just bathe those children in prayer as well."
It's impacting parents like Shannon Shanks
"It makes me feel good," Shanks shares.
Shanks has a rising third and rising sixth grader, and says she likes knowing her children and their teachers are being cared for.
"I think it matters to me because, I mean, it just shows that the community cares about what's going on around here," Shanks says. "I think it says that they care a lot about the kids that go around the schools and the teachers."
It's a sentiment shared by educators.
"We were super welcomed by every school. People were like, ‘Yes, please come in and pray for us.’ Like because it's, you know, it's a hard job that happens in those schools," McCaskill details. "I think it shows that we, we really care for each other, meaning we were able to host it here, but it's for our entire community. We know of at least four other churches that partnered and participated with us today. So it's just a way of saying like, ‘Hey, we really love our community. And we really believe that our community matters to God."
Sumter School District will be back in session starting on Aug. 3.