"When You Get, You Have To Give": One Heroic Sandy Hook Teacher Wants To Help Kids Pay It Forward

Caroline MossDec 14, 2013, 19:38 IST

MICHELLE MCLOUGHLIN/REUTERSSandy Hook teacher Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis had hidden her first-grade class in a closet during the shooting that killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School last December 14."When you get, you have to give."

That's the motto of a new charity - Classes 4 Classes was started this year - that encourages students to give back by sponsoring kids in other classrooms all over the United States by raising money and resources.

Kaitlin Roig-Debellis, who gave that first harrowing interview to Diane Sawyer just hours after a gunman stormed Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT and opened fire, killing 20 young children and 6 educators, is the mastermind behind Classes 4 Classes.

Roig-Debellis was just one classroom away from the gunfire, and she locked her own students in a 4x3 bathroom, urging them to be quiet while "the good guys came to help them from the bad guys."

Her first-hand account was just one of the many stories of heroism that captivated the country as it helped piece together what happened that day.

Now she has begun Classes 4 Classes.

Classes 4 Classes is a 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to teach every child in our nation that "our lives are not separate but rather completely connected, and that everyone has the power to take action and create positive change."

YouTubeOne of the many memorials that was created in the days that followed the tragedy that took place in Newtown, CT.

Kids and teachers from around the country are encouraged to sign up through the website to be a donor class. Donor classes can decide who and what they want to give to, or they can accept suggestions from Classes 4 Classes.

Kids are encouraged to choose what to give based on what they've already used in their own classrooms, so that they can actively share their experiences with the children who will be receiving the gifts.

On the Classes 4 Classes website, students have already worked hard in classrooms across the country to raise money to buy Samsung Chromebooks and iPads for students in other schools. Other gifts have included money donations to be put towards "field trip budgets."

This helps kids "pay it '4ward,'" explains Roig-Debellis.

"We need to teach kids to care about other kids. We need to teach kids to care about other people."

Here's a video on Classes 4 Classes, and you can learn more here:

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"When You Get, You Have To Give": One Heroic Sandy Hook Teacher Wants To Help Kids Pay It Forward