It’s early on a Friday morning, but it’s a party atmosphere outside SAND Elementary School in Hartford’s Clay Arsenal neighborhood.
As students arrive for the school day, they’re met by parallel lines of well-wishers and a red carpet. They get high-fives as they walk in. People are playing drums, singing and shouting: “Good morning! Good morning!”
The event is the handiwork of Calling All Brothers, a group that has been making the first days of school special for Hartford students over the last decade. They call it the "Welcome Back 2 School Greeting Tour." Through the years, the men have connected with thousands of students. Volunteers call it a "citywide movement of hope, visibility and love."
Rev. AJ Johnson founded the group. He remembers the first year of the school welcomes back in 2015.
“Let’s just greet the kids back. It’s just so easy, simple,” Johnson said. “It was just show up and let’s create excitement for these kids in our public school system.”
Many of the men wear suits as they greet the kids. They’re lawyers, executives. But not all of them. Nurse Orlando Carter wore blue scrubs.
“There’s other careers outside that require suits and ties, but there’s also ways to make change,” Carter said. “As a minority, being able to provide health care and access, and showing that they can be those people that make change in their community and the public, and being able to be a figure and role model for the community as well.”
Calling All Brothers makes a real difference in students’ lives, SAND School principal Courtney McCoy said. Clapping and cheering for the students makes them feel like they’ve won the lottery.
“It lets them know that our children matter and that they can do and achieve anything,” McCoy said. “It’s also good for our children to see individuals, even males, of color, that they can achieve beyond like their wildest dreams.”
Johnson, who dreamed up the event, says he hopes to continue showing up for the community for years to come.
