Spring Valley Academy Uses Sonshine Cards to Light Up Community

Story by Angela Peach

Spring Valley Academy (SVA) staff believe education goes beyond memorizing facts and numbers. What matters most is discovering who Jesus is and finding ways to share His message with those around us.

One way SVA students learn this is through the Sonshine Card program. In this program, students in grades K–6 create cards with messages of encouragement for community members going through a difficult time.

The program began in 2013, when Elementary Vice Principal Judy Cambigue was teaching third grade. Cambigue found that her students enjoyed creating cards to uplift and encourage other people, and when she moved into her vice principal role in 2019, she broadened the tradition to include the whole elementary school.

“Over the years, we’ve sent cards to people who suffered through an illness, have lost their home in a fire or have lost loved ones,” Cambigue says. “I’ve also had people submit names of lonely neighbors who have no other connection with SVA. We’ll encourage anyone God places before us!”

When students create the cards, what they share with the recipient is up to them. Depending on their grade level, there are often cheerful pictures and uplifting words or a favorite Bible verse or promise. This activity shows them that encouragement does not have to cost anything.

“At Spring Valley Academy, we believe in teaching students to be empathetic and to be proud to freely share the love and comfort of Jesus and the promise of eternity,” says Cambigue. “Making cards keeps this idea front of mind.”

Cambigue doesn’t always hear back from recipients, but when she receives a thank you note, she shares it with the students during elementary chapel so they realize the impact their cards have on others.

“I was given a stack of about 50 Sonshine cards while my mom was in the hospital a few years ago,” says Emily Cowell, director of Residence Life at Kettering College and a former teacher at SVA. “These cards came from former students and kids I’d never met. To say I was touched would be an understatement. I still have those cards and have pulled them out over the years to remember the love I was gifted at a tremendously difficult time in my life.”

Since the initiative began 12 years ago, SVA students have sent more than 7,600 cards to individuals. Cambigue enjoys introducing the concept to new students each year, and she knows from first-hand experience just how meaningful the cards are to the recipients. “I’ve been the recipient of batches of cards when my in-laws and father died,” she says. “There’s something special about getting a hopeful and heartfelt note from a child.”

To suggest a Sonshine card recipient, email jucambigue@springvalleyacademy.org.