Secret Santa helps families at 2 schools

A man anonymously paid off outstanding meal accounts at two Downingtown elementary schools

UWCHLAN » A Secret Santa already came to town.

A “Secret Santa” walked into two Downingtown Area School District schools and paid off the outstanding meal accounts for dozens of students. The anonymous donor showed up at both Lionville Elementary School and Uwchlan Hills Elementary School in Uwchlan Township and asked to settle all unpaid cafeteria bills. The negative balances at both schools totaled more than $300.

Lionville Elementary Principal Shelda Perry said the gentleman had heard of another Secret Santa doing a similar good deed in another Pennsylvania school district and thought this would be a great way to give back to his community this holiday season.

“His two sons had graduated from our school several years ago and he remembered Lionville as a very special place,” Perry said. “We are truly grateful. This one act of kindness has impacted the lives of many families here at Lionville.”

Wanting to do more, Santa then moved down the road to Uwchlan Hills, another Downingtown school, and paid off the negative balances of a few more families.

“Although Chester County is one Pennsylvania’s thriving areas, there are still many families struggling to make ends meet,” Downingtown schools Superintendent Emilie Lonardi said. “To have this gentleman ‘pay it forward’ in such a thoughtful way will not only be remembered by the families he helped, but by our entire Downingtown family.”

The Downingtown Area School District uses an online system that gives each district family the opportunity to pre-pay for their children’s lunches. When the amount they have pre-paid runs out, students are still entitled to charge a meal even if their account has a negative balance. Reminder notices are sent out automatically to families to remind them to refill their cafeteria meal account. Sometimes, however, a family might find it difficult to repay that account in a timely way resulting in a negative balance. It was those negative balances that were paid off by Monday’s Secret Santa donation.

Richard Fazio, Chief Financial Officer of the school district, said that the parents of the students the Secret Santa helped were notified that their balances were cleared on Monday afternoon.

“We had a lot of happy smiles in the business office today,” Fazio said. “Just part of the ripple effect of this gentleman’s good deed. Should anyone else wish to help our families this season, please contact any one of our 16 schools.”