Tells grandmother she doesn’t need prize money because she ‘already has enough’
By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
CASWELL — Students of the Dawn F. Barnes Elementary School in Caswell do a fundraiser every year to support their yearbook project and raised $735.80 this year to ensure that the yearbooks are free to all students.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
Even at four and-a-half years old, pre-K student Abagayle Mulherin was able to identify a cause worthy of a selfless gesture; when she won $25 for having the second-highest amount of sales in a school fundraiser for yearbooks, Abagayle told her grandmother “I don’t need it,” and opted to return the donation to the school for their ongoing fundraiser to buy a new curtain for the stage. Shown above are, from left, Roz Mulherin, Abagayle, and teaching principal of the Caswell School Charles Hartman.
Abagayle Mulherin, a four-and-a-half-year-old pre-K student at the Caswell School, had the second highest fundraiser sales and the prize for her efforts was $25, which she donated back to the school for their ongoing efforts to purchase a new curtain for the school’s stage (to replace the school’s current 37-year-old antique).
Though only 4, Abagayle has already learned that not everyone in the world is as fortunate as she is to have nice toys to play with and nice clothes to wear — a lesson that her mom, Meagan Mulherin, and her grandparents, Roz and Alan Mulherin, taught her over a year ago when she was going through the standard “I want it” phase.
“We explained to her that not everyone has the nice things that she does,” Roz explained.
When she realized that there were other children out there who didn’t share in her basic luxuries, Abagayle picked out a couple of her absolute favorite toys and, with the help of her family, donated the rest to Catholic Charities of Maine in Caribou. Ever since then, whenever Abbie gets new toys for Christmas or her birthday, she picks out the toys she no longer uses and donates them to Catholic Charities or to ACAP’s daycare facilities.
So when Roz informed Abbie that she’d won $25 for her fund-raising efforts, Abagayle didn’t hesitate to respond that she really didn’t need the money because she had everything she needed. When Roz asked Abagayle what she wanted to do with her prize, Abbie decided that she wanted to donate it back to the school to help with the New Curtain Fund.
Abagayle didn’t have much to say about her donation — she’s pretty shy — but her donation shocked a number of her fellow students. After all, $25 can buy a lot for a kid.
“It’s the first time that a student has given a prize back to the school,” said Teaching Principal of the Dawn F. Barnes Elementary School Charles Hartman, adding his appreciation of the 4-year-old’s generosity.
The monetary prizes are awarded to the top-sellers as incentive to fund-raise for the school and by no means is it, or has it ever, been expected that a student would donate their prize back to the school “and it’s not a bad thing if a student decides to keep the prize that they earned,” Hartman said.
The school does teach their students about community service and the importance of giving back to the community, but for a four year old to donate her prize back to the school has given Caswell students (and the community as a whole) something to think about.
