Tonya Costa couldn't believe her email inbox.
The Alfred Lima, Sr. Elementary School principal was in the thick of preparations for her 26th year in the Providence Schools district, and someone was reaching out on behalf of New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye.
No way it was real, she thought. She forwarded the message to her assistant vice principals, Kelli Goodwin and Elizabeth Melendez.
"I'm not gonna lie, we were a little skeptical at first because we get a lot of emails," said Costa. But we did a little research and talked to him and we realized it was real."
As the three women would learn, Maye and his wife, Ann Michael, were hoping to help with those back-to-school preparations through their nonprofit, the MayeDay Family Foundation. After talking out logistics with the school, the Mayes ultimately paid for the Amazon wishlists all 54 teachers and support specialists had for their classrooms.
Costa, Goodwin, and Melendez decided to surprise their educators with the news under the guise of an emergency meeting.
"It was amazing," said Costa. "There were teachers crying. They couldn't have been more thankful."
The generosity makes a tremendous impact, as Alfred Lima, Sr. Elementary is a Title I school, which receives federal financial assistance through the U.S. Department of Education as it serves a high percentage of children from low-income families.
"Our school is a Title I school. So, 98% of our kids get free or reduced lunch. We have more than 400 multilingual learners, which means 400 of our students speak Spanish or another language as their first language. This provides them the opportunity to get special supplies for the kids in their classrooms that they wouldn't have otherwise."
Maye launched the MayeDay Family Foundation in March. The charity's first activation, a celebrity softball classic at Polar Park in Worcester, Mass., raised more than $500,000 in May to benefit children and families in need throughout New England and in North Carolina.
After this surprise gift, the school plans to show the Mayes their gratitude.
"Every time we talk about it it gives me goosebumps," said Goodwin.
"We're going to have Maye Day at the school in May. We just want to honor them and what they do for communities such as ours. I have been in this district for 29 years, so to receive that type of generosity doesn't happen often. And when it comes in this magnitude to have an impact this big, it's just so meaningful and purposeful. We're all givers – that's why we're in this field. So to give it back to the students, first and foremost, that is something so exciting to our staff."
