Well, young Brad Emmerton had sold his car to purchase the perfect ring for his love! Ellen's crew loved the story and set out to find out more about Brad and his new fiancée, Jennifer Balyeat. It turned out they were both teachers at Newington Elementary School in Summerville, a Title 1 school with a population of underserved children, at least 50% of whom received supplemental meals.
The Ellen Show flew Brad and Jennifer to celebrate their story where she presented Brad with a brand new RAV4 and a trip to Australia for their honeymoon! Wow!!
If you're wondering when I'll get to the punchline... here we go. During their interview on the show Ellen learned from Brad and Jennifer that because the school doesn't have the resources, the teachers in the school regularly use their own money to purchase school supplies like notebooks, pens, pencils, erasures, and other essential supplies. And if you know anything about South Carolina, you know that teacher salaries are NOT high. This "tradition" is a sacrifice by these dedicated teachers.
Getting back to Ellen, her team set up a Skype session with Brad and Jennifer, their principal and their kids and pretended they were just going to "check in." In fact, they had someone there to present them with a $50,000 check (!) donated by Skype to go toward all the essential supplies and whatever else the School decided to use it for.
That's what I mean, she recognizes a need and does something about it.
Thanks Ellen!http://www.journalscene.com/article/20130312/SJ01/130319956
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