The teachers and students of Matthew Jago School in Sewaren, N.J., have an anonymous couple to thank, after the kind strangers picked up the restaurant tab for their entire class earlier this month.
The 25 students, who have autism, were at Jose Tejas, a Tex-Mex restaurant, to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and to learn how to behave in such a setting. The students were joined by 21 teachers, paraprofessionals and speech therapists, reports NBC New York.
But when it came time to settle up, the restaurant happily turned down their money, on account of a generous donation.
"At the end of our meal, the manager came over and told us our entire $485 bill was paid for by a fellow patron," one of the teachers, Jeannette Gruskowski, told The Home News Tribune, "and she chooses to remain anonymous because ... she has a grandchild with special needs."
Gruskowski added that the unnamed donors -- reportedly a couple who visit the restaurant often -- also wanted to give thanks because it was Teacher Appreciation Day.
"We were speechless," the teacher told NBC New York. "We were all crying."
The class wrote a thank-you card for the strangers, which they've hung in the restaurant, hoping the anonymous benefactors will see it. According to Fox New York, the card reads:
There are not words to express how touched and grateful we are to you. Your act of generosity will forever be embedded in our hearts. Our hope for our students on these class trips is that they will be able to generalize skills they have leared in the classroom. We teach our students valuable lifeskills, social skills and communication skills in a real life setting. With that being said, I want you to know that you gave our students so much more!
No comments:
Post a Comment