Inspired students begin leaving money hidden all over Nashville | The Type Set

Nashville Tennessean

The best words you can possibly hear are, "You inspired me."

That's what I heard recently from a woman named Lisa Shaffer, a 6th grade teacher in Nashville.

The word "teacher" doesn't do her justice. She's a two-time teacher of the year at Meigs Magnet School. She's the school's co-athletic director, volleyball coach and student council advisor.

She inspires children for a living.

Around Christmas, she was visiting her sister, who told her she needed to read an article in The Tennessean. She was talking about The Type Set column from Dec. 19. It was about how I had received a package from "The Twos Fairy."

Inside the package were sandwich bags with two dollar bills. The sender, who is still unknown to me, explained they had been leaving $2 bills around Nashville in hopes of putting smiles on the faces of people who found them. Two dollar bills, in the family of the Twos Fairy, are lucky.

I was inspired, so I got four sandwich bags and put $10 bills inside. I left one at a gas station, two at restaurants and one at a bookstore. My hope was that finding the $10 would inspire the finder to hide more money somewhere else and pay forward the experience.

Lisa Shaffer didn't find one of my baggies, but she liked the idea.

Read the full story:The Type Set: Kindness and a $2 bill can go a long way

She said she thought her students, who are very smart and should grow up to be leaders in their communities, could learn a lesson in giving back.

So she took the idea to them. She teaches 72 students in three classes. And she asked them to come up with their best idea of where they would leave money for a stranger to find. Since they are in the middle of a persuasive writing lesson, forcing them to come up with and defend their ideas would be good for her class.

"They were so into it," Shaffer said.

The kids wanted to donate $10, but since Shaffer was funding the project, she declined.

"This is on Ms. Shaffer's dime," she said with a laugh.

The students voted for the six top places to leave money. And she gave the six winning students $5 bills. So the project cost her $30.

The students chose two hospitals, two humane society offices and two places that have homeless people in the neighborhood. They stuffed money and a note in sandwich bags and dropped them at their pre-determined places.

The note said:

Hi!

We are so happy that you found our “TWOS FAIRY” bag. Today is your lucky day! Our class was inspired by an article we read in The Tennessean by Keith Sharon that told of a story of an unnamed person hiding lucky two-dollar bills near Belmont University.

Our class decided that we wanted to join in this act of giving. We elected to put five dollars in our bag. If this money helps you, please use it. However, if you would like to pass it along, feel free to do that. Our hope is that someone who needs a pick me up is the receiver.

Please email our teacher and let us know what your experience was so that we can “follow” our bags to the final recipient.

We hope this brings you joy and puts a smile on your face. We look forward to hearing from you.

All the best,

Ms. Shaffer’s class

Meigs Magnet School

Lisa.shaffer@mnps.org

"I feel like I will do this every year in my class," Shaffer said. "I loved that there were so many good ideas. They really touched my heart."

Her plan in the future is to turn the idea over to the student council, and see what they can come up with.

"This is the tip of the iceberg," Shaffer said.

I'm planning to visit the students in class and see if we can inspire each other some more.

Reach Keith Sharon at 615-406-1594 or ksharon@tennessean.com or on Twitter @KeithSharonTN.

Project 88

This story is part of Project 88, which is named for the 88 characters produced on a Smith-Corona typewriter. The Tennessean’s Keith Sharon types letters on his 1953 typewriter and mails them to people all over the world with an envelope and stamp so they can write back. This story originated with a letter Keith received. The question Project 88 is trying to answer is: Will people communicate the old-fashioned way, through heartfelt letters about the best and most challenging days of their lives. This project is not for political rants, and any kind of snail mail letter (typed, hand-written or computer printout) is acceptable. Please include a phone number.

You can be part of Project 88 by writing to:

Keith Sharon

The Tennessean

1801 West End Ave.

16th Floor

Nashville, TN 37203