Georgia Teacher Runs More Than 50 Miles to Visit His Students

In the days of social distancing where most teachers see their students through virtual learning, one teacher is going above and beyond to see each of his students outside their homes.

Bill McAllister, a teacher at Big Shanty Elementary School in Kennesaw, Georgia, had not seen his students in person since March 16.

“I knew my kids were at home missing school and everybody else, so I thought why don’t I just run through their neighborhoods and give them a smile, pick up their day a little bit,” McAllister told Fox 5 Atlanta.

But his route to get to each student took meticulous planning.

“I had to figure out where everybody lived and figure out the most advantageous route to get from one place to another,” said McAllister.

His route takes him a total of 50 miles in all, and he goes at a pace of six to eight miles per day.

Mia Strickland, one of his students, smiled when she received a visit from McAllister.

“To me, it’s pretty awesome, just the other day I was thinking about him,” said Strickland.

If nobody is home, McAllister tapes a special note to the family’s mailbox.

“Sorry I missed you, hope you are doing well,” one of the notes reads.

McAllister also uses his per-mile runs to donate to food-insecure households who are missing meals.

“One of the things that was on my mind is that there are kids with parents not working and they’re food insecure, so I decided I was going to make a per-mile donation to MUST Ministries,” said McAllister.

McAllister said as others learned about his good deeds, he encouraged them to donate to the charity as well.