Teachers, students caravan with signs and balloons during quarantine

MARTINEZ, Calif. - Fear around the coronavirus can bring out the worst in people but it can also provide uplifting opportunities when people display acts of kindness.

Many communities in the Bay Area are coming together to ensure those sheltering in place don’t feel alone.

In some cities, people sing, others howl. In Martinez, residents cranked up the music Sunday night. Car stereos played the classic “Don’t Stop Believing " by Journey. The residents drove by the hospital, police station, fire station, grocery stores, and Main Street with a message.

“We really need to give our essential workers some hope and belief to keep pushing themselves,” said Lisa Mills of Martinez. “People admitted in the hospital to keep believing, keep fighting and don’t give up.”

They weren’t the only ones spreading cheer on Sunday.

Second graders from Our Lady of Angels School in Burlingame surprised their teacher Ms. Harty at her home in San Francisco.

Students with their families paraded in a line of cars visiting Ms. Harty from a distance. Some students had handmade signs that read we love and miss you as a way to say thanks.

“Thank you for being amazing and I hope you like this,” said student Brooklyn Castillo.

“It just melts my heart,” said Teacher Megan Harty. “I feel so blessed to be at a great school with a wonderful community.”

Teachers like Ms. Harty haven’t seen their students in person in weeks and she said virtual instruction is not the same.

“It’s been very hard not to see them,” said Harty. “Teaching is not supposed to be a job where I’m on a computer screen. I’m used to my chitchats with them, seeing them every day, walking around the classroom. I love all of them.”

In Martinez, dozens of teachers and staff from Morello Park Elementary School caravanned through their students’s neighborhoods on Sunday.

“It’s a way for us to come out and see our kids and make sure we can show them that we love them and we miss them and want them back in school,” said Martinez Unified School District Superintendent CJ Cammack.

Azenith Smith is a reporter for KTVU.  Email Azenith at azenith.smith@foxtv.com and follow her on Twitter@AzenithKTVU