Echo news story prompts heartwarming donation to Cork city school
School principal Aaron Wolfe putting up a Covid-19 poster in one of the school corridors as part of the measures in place to welcome back his students to Coláiste Éamann Rís, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan
A Cork school has received a generous donation by an anonymous local, following a story in The Echo.
Coláiste Éamann Rís recently featured in a weekend print edition of The Echo, where it caught the eye of one kind stranger.
The principal of the Cork secondary school, Aaron Wolfe said “we received a letter in the post, addressed to me and in it was a handwritten note and €100 in cash.”
The note read:
Principal Wolfe explained that each day, before school, students get together and are given fruit, cereals and other nutritional foods by the school.
“We have 610 students in the school and the breakfast club is open to everyone of them. They just have to get themselves up and to school and we try to set them up for the day with breakfast. Then at 11, for anyone who couldn’t get in earlier we have croissants and all that for them at break time.”
The mysterious note sent to the school went on to say: “We need our children to grow up healthy and without fear. I was lost when I was 16. I’m 76 now and I’m still growing up!”
Mr Wolfe reflected on this line, saying: “This means a lot to us. It's telling of the way the education system has changed since this man was in school. Now its not just about getting results and behaving, we want to look after them emotionally too.”
The social aspect of the school’s breakfast club allows students at Coláiste Éamann Rís to feel at home in their school and not dread returning each morning.
With the current cost of living crisis, he went on to say that “many schools are currently struggling to pay bills for things like electricity and we have been writing to businesses to help with our breakfast club. Phil Goodman at Douglas, Young at Heart has been great. The help means a lot.” The anonymous note finished by wishing Aaron and his teachers the best of luck and helps to remind us of the kindness of strangers.
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