DeKalb County school club spreads love with free hugs

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - A group of high school students in DeKalb County are trying to spread positivity and love through their school and beyond with free hugs. The Love Club started at Cedar Grove High School, and now they're spreading that love to their neighboring schools as well.

Wednesday mornings mean free hugs. Shontica Wallace is the force behind the hugs. She started doing free hugs at Stonecrest Mall in 2018, but when she started working at Cedar Grove High School in 2022, she decided to bring the initiative to the school.

"Watching them in the school building, I knew some of those kids were not getting any hugs. Some of those kids were not being told 'I love you.' Some of those kids were not getting the attention that they need. And why not, we're at school for eight hours, why not give them that to start their day, at least once a week," Wallace said.

So she, along with a handful of students, started The Love Club.

"So we started with our very own kids first. We greeted them at the bus and gave out free hugs," she told Good Day's Lindsay Tuman.

Other schools quickly embraced the idea.

"We got a phone call! 'We saw what you guys are doing, can you come to our school and do it?' And then the next school called, and then the next school called and it's been that way ever since," she said.

Now The Love Club starts every Wednesday before 7 greeting students at Cedar Grove Elementary, Barack Obama Elementary, and Oak View Elementary.

Kyle Mosley helped start the club.

"You can just tell, on Monday or Tuesday you might be dreading the day, but on Wednesday with these kids, it just gives you that little extra pick-me-up," he said.

After their first stop at the elementary schools, everyone heads back to the high school where the hugs, fist bumps, or high-fives continue.

Clifton Spears is the principal at Cedar Grove High School.

"Believe it or not, most of the students want hugs. Some of them are like 'Eh no,' but most of the students will take a hug," Spears said.

It's a simple act of kindness Wallace says she'd like to see in every school.

"I want it to be a global initiative where other schools are hugging their babies every single morning, if not every morning then at least once a week," she said.

Helping these students start the day with a small hug and a whole lot of love.

"It feels really good. Kids are just so innocent, it's just a bundle of love running at you, how can you not be happy?" Mosley said.