Photo: Steve Culbert
An elementary school teacher from Michigan treated two of his former students to a day on the town — including a surprise limo ride to their school dance — just weeks after their father died.
Alivia Reece, 8, and her sister, Avery Reece’s father, Luke Reece, died on September 19 after experiencing cardiac arrest. He was 32.
“Luke was their world. He did everything with the kids from the coaching their soccer practices to helping them with ballet,” Steve Culbert, who taught both of the girls when they were in second grade, tells PEOPLE. “You name it, and he was with the kids.”
With the school’s annual father-daughter dance coming up, which Luke had taken Alivia and Avery, 7, to every year, Culbert spoke to his wife and decided he would escort the sisters along with his own daughters, Aliyah, 6, and Hailey, 8.
“I asked my daughters,” 45-year-old teacher recalls, “and they said they knew exactly what was going on, and they wanted to be part of it.”
Steve Culbert
Culbert knows what it’s like to cope with the loss of a loved one at a young age, as he was only 11 years old when his 14-year-old brother died.
“I’ve been down that road with my brother, you know, watching him die of cancer. I know what that felt like and I know when my own students hurt, I hurt,” Culbert says.
“I don’t want any of them to feel like they’re alone in that. It just touches a certain spot in my heart.”
After discreetly raising donations from the community, Culbert then planned a day of fun for the two sisters leading up to the big dance on October 13.
Culbert picked up the girls in the morning and treated them to breakfast with his family, then drove them to the playground at a local park. After that, he took the group to have their nails painted and their hair done.
“It was awesome, I got to dance with my own girls and I got to dance with Avery and Alivia. All five of us danced together a couple of times,” Culbert says. “Then when we got ready to go, we climbed into the limo and I took them out for ice cream.”
Before the dance, the girls also were able to release balloons into the air that had the hashtag “#BeLikeLuke” written on them, in remembrance of their father, who was able to change the lives of 65 people thanks to organ donation — something that Culbert says, through tears, was inspirational for him.
About 20 people a day die awaiting organ transplants, according to theAmerican Transplant Foundation, and there are over 115,000 people currently on the waiting list to receive a life-saving organ. One donor can save up to eight lives, the foundation says, and can save or enhance the lives of a hundred others.
To support the family going forward, Culbert recently started aGoFundMeto help pay Alivia and Avery’s college education.
“I tell my kids right at the beginning of the school year that they’re family, and we start to build that relationship of trust and show them what you do for family,” he says. “It’s certain instances like this, you don’t just say it, you live it.”
The girls’ mother, Shelley Reece,toldGood Morning Americashe’s “forever grateful”for Culbert’s actions.
“Having Avery come home that evening and tell me Mr. Culbert brought her smile back was all a mother could ask for.”
source: people.com
