RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (WCBS 880) — A 5-year-old Long Island, New York boy has come up with a safe way to hug his beloved kindergarten teacher who is battling cancer during the pandemic.
"Hugs are healing," said Riverhead School District teacher Keri Lynn Stromski. That's why it meant the world to her when her student, Avery Green, and his parents brought over a homemade "hug machine" to her house.
Stromski was finally able to hug Avery — the first student she could embrace since the pandemic began last spring.
"It was just the sweetest thing," Stromski said.
The portable "hug machine" is made of a clothing rack, shower curtain and garbage bags. The curtain has holes covered in garbage bags that people can slip their arms through and hug each other with a protective layer between them.
Avery and his mother, Cathie, designed the "hug machine" because Stromski, who must follow strict social distancing protocols amid the pandemic as she undergoes both chemotherapy and radiation treatments for Stage 4 breast cancer, missed hugging her students, who are learning virtually.
"That's what she missed the most about being actually physically in school," Cathie Green said. "Mrs. Stromski loves our kids like they're all her own. From day one, she told them every day that she loves them."
"Now she could hug everyone in the whole wide world!" Avery said.
Stromski said she hopes that sometime in the near future she could have a hugging parade with all of her students and their families.
"I just love all of them so much," Stromski said.
LISTEN NOW on the RADIO.COM App
Follow RADIO.COM
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram