WHITE HAVEN, Pa. — Gabbie Heckman, age 12, of New Columbia, misses her fellow sixth-graders while she's going to school online because of the coronavirus.
But when she saw this from the White Haven Police Department on Facebook. It struck a happy chord with her and her family.
"My mom was scrolling through Facebook, and she saw that they were doing a little storytime with one of my little brother's favorite stories," explained Gabbie.
White Haven Police Chief Thomas Szoke says throughout the stay-at-home order, he and his officers will be taking turns reading or doing other activities on Facebook.
"Everything we're doing now is to protect the most vulnerable during this virus, but what about the children out of the blue were taken out of school, taken away from their friends? We're just trying to make sure they have a little bit of knowing that people are outside, and people are OK. We're going to get through this, and we're going to get better," explained Szoke.
But the officers are hoping for the same in return.
"And at the end of the video, when we finished watching it, they said to send back a video of you reading a book," said Gabbie.
Gabbie accepted the challenge and posted this video back.
"It was wonderful. We did have a couple other folks post, but Gabbie's was just wonderful. It was great to see immediately the kid just jumped right on there," said Szoke.
Gabbie says sometimes being at home all day away from friends and teachers can bring her down.
"Like you are trapped, but like when people do stuff like that, like when you get to read a story, it's like showing that you can spread kindness around the world, and you don't have to stuck inside," said Gabbie.
Gabbie tells Newswatch 16 she hopes everybody takes a moment to spread some positivity and accept the White Haven Police Department's challenge on Facebook by reading a book of their own.