A teacher has shared the story of how she received an anonymous donation in the post to spend on her students.
Acts of kindness really can come out of nowhere as 35-year-old Erin Adriance discovered when she opened her school mailbox on Tuesday September 25.
Erin, who currently teaches second grade at Apache Innovative School in Kansas City, Missouri, was surprised to receive an anonymous letter which had a $100 bill enclosed.
Short and sweet, the letter read:
Please spend for something for your classroom. Former Apache teacher.
Speaking to UNILAD, Erin said she has no idea who the ‘former Apache teacher’ is and why they sent the letter to her.
She explained:
Earlier in September I helped our school’s PTA (Parent Teacher Association) create a fundraiser for a maths program that our teachers and students wanted, but was quite expensive.
I had received a couple other envelopes in my mailbox over the last few weeks that were for the fundraiser. I assumed that’s what this would be, but was surprised when I opened it.
I can only assume it was someone I once worked with at Apache. Our school was underperforming several years ago and our school district decided to reorganise the staff and start fresh with a new concept, an innovative school.
We are currently in our third year as an innovative school but because of the shift, there are several teachers that I worked with before the school was reorganised and I believe it was one of them who sent it.
Apache has had many teachers dedicate their entire teaching career to our community and many of them have been known to give back to our families in need by volunteering and providing gifts during the holidays.
On the day Erin received the letter she ‘wasn’t having the best day’ but the anonymous donation ‘immediately reminded [her] that [her] tough day was a minor issue and [she] was now charged with using this money to brighten someone else’s day’.
Now that’s the spirit!
Erin, who has worked in education for the past 13 years, showed the letter to the school’s principal who responded with a huge smile, commenting the donation was ‘awesome’.
Having recently filled her online shopping cart with Scholastic books to give to her students for the upcoming winter holidays, Erin added more and helped pay for them with the $100.
She told UNILAD she is grateful for being given the opportunity to do this:
I was able to buy each of my students four books to have in their home, to keep as their own. Many of my students don’t have resources to buy books and I try to give them at least one new book every year to keep and treasure.
I am incredibly appreciative of the person who sent this money to me and my students. They’ve impacted 23 families and given kids an opportunity they didn’t have before!
Erin shared a photo of the letter on Twitter to let the sender know how thankful she is.
She wrote:
I found this anonymous letter in my school mailbox on Tuesday. THANK YOU to the sender and please know that my students will get books to take home because of your kindness.
Going viral, Erin’s tweet has received over 1,100 likes at time of writing (October 10) with many applauding the anonymous donor’s generosity in the comments.
How heartwarming!
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via stories@unilad.co.uk. To license this article contact licensing@unilad.co.uk
