Twenty teachers at Shull-David Elementary School in Lehighton received an early Christmas gift Wednesday in the form of $50 Walmart gift cards to spend on classroom supplies.

The gift cards were distributed as part of Walmart's teachers rewards program, which will provide up to $4.5 million to 90,000 teachers across the country this fall."It means a lot that a local business would support us like that," Shull-David principal Aaron Sebelin said. "Most, if not all of our kids shop there. The teachers all have a budget and the district can only allot so much per classroom, so this is a huge help to them."This is the sixth year for the Walmart program.More than 4,600 U.S. Walmart stores, distribution centers and Sam's Clubs locations are eligible to select one local kindergarten through eighth-grade public school and provide rewards cards to 20 teachers from the selected school."Whether it's giving a pencil to a child because theirs is worn down to a stub or providing a nutritious snack for a student who can't focus because they're hungry, we know teachers are going the extra mile to give back to their students," said Karle Myers, co-manager of the Walmart in Lehighton. "We're still in challenging times and we know that teachers are dipping into their own pockets for supplies."Winning teachers can use the funds to purchase items such as paper, folders, binders, pencils, crayons and markers."The community supports us and we want to support the community back," Myers said. "We'll do whatever we can to help our local teachers."