New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye and his wife, Ann Michael, have paid for the classroom wish lists of all 54 teachers and support specialists at Alfred Lima Sr. Elementary School in Providence, Rhode Island. The donation was made through their nonprofit, the MayeDay Family Foundation, as the school prepared for the new academic year.
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According to WPRI 12, the surprise began with an email sent to Tonya Costa, principal of Alfred Lima Sr. Elementary School. Costa was preparing for her 26th year in the Providence Schools district when she received a message saying that someone was reaching out on behalf of Maye.
At first, Costa was not sure whether the offer was genuine. She forwarded the message to her assistant vice principals, Kelli Goodwin and Elizabeth Melendez, before the three women looked into it and spoke with Maye.
"I'm not gonna lie, we were a little skeptical at first because we get a lot of emails. But we did a little research and talked to him and we realized it was real," Costa said, as quoted by WPRI 12.
Once the school confirmed the offer, the Mayes worked with the staff to decide how they could help. They eventually agreed to cover the Amazon classroom wish lists of all 54 teachers and support specialists at the school.
The gift was then turned into a surprise for the educators. Costa, Goodwin and Melendez called the teachers and support staff to what they described as an emergency meeting. Instead of an emergency, the staff were told that the Mayes had agreed to pay for their classroom supplies. "It was amazing," Costa said. "There were teachers crying. They couldn't have been more thankful."
Donation supports a Title I school
The donation is particularly significant for Alfred Lima Sr. Elementary School because it is a Title I school. Such schools receive federal financial assistance through the US Department of Education because they serve a high percentage of children from low-income families.
Costa said about 98% of the school's students receive free or reduced-price lunch. The school also has more than 400 multilingual learners, meaning those students speak Spanish or another language as their first language.
