Amazon donates tablets to middle school students

WEST HAVEN — The president of Notre Dame High School of West Haven made something like a Hail Mary pass by emailing Amazon founder, president and CEO Jeff Bezos seeking tablet donations for city students — and it worked.

Bezos or his agents — Notre Dame President Robert Curis does not know Bezos — agreed to donate 950 Kindle Fire tablets that will be distributed

The donation is part of a $5 million device donation made globally, said Kim Cowser, a spokeswoman for Amazon.

to Bailey Middle School students. The tablets were donated through ReadyCT, a registered

501c3 non-profit. The organization will official donate them next week.

The donation is part of a $5 million device donation made globally, said

Kim Cowser, a spokeswoman for Amazon.

“When I heard the news from Superintendent (Neil) Cavallaro, I had to ask him to repeat it to me,” said Rob Bohan, principal of Bailey Middle School. “This crisis has at least temporarily challenged our way of life. With any crisis there are heroes that surface. We have so many of those heroes within our Bailey family. Bailey’s family has now grown and includes the great people from Amazon.”

He said the technology will be put to immediate use.

As the Rotary Club of West Haven was seeking donations to be matched in order to purchase technology for students in the city, Curis decided to email Bezos. He signed the email

“With Admiration.”

Bezos never replied, but within a few days Curis received a follow-up email from Amazon saying they were going to look into the request.

In the email Curis wrote: “Greetings Jeff! I do not know if you have the appetite or time for this, but West Haven (and other communities in our region— New Haven-Bridgeport) need help.

The idea of Kindles for the stay at home student emerged from West Haven

Principals as the best option, Curis wrote,” continuing, “West Haven has approximately 2,300 students in pre-school and elementary school.”

Curis ends with: “These are extraordinary times and require extraordinary gestures, measures, and actions.”

Superintendent of Schools Neil Cavallaro said in an email there will be one Kindle Fire for every student at Bailey. He said as the district began dis

tance learning the Rotary Club was the first to come forward with assistance.

“They understand our community and know the challenges that our school district faces,” Cavallaro wrote. “They continue to raise money for additional computers and are assisting struggling families by providing them with gift cards to purchase meals.”

He said it’s well known that West Haven High

School and Notre Dame of West Haven are the fiercest of rivals when it comes to athletics, but, “What many don’t know, however, is the outstanding relationship and mutual respect that each school has for the other.”

West Haven Rotary Club president Dianne Milano said she is grateful for the donation.

“I am in awe of the way the town came together to help the school community and appreciate all the good that is being done to help one another,” she said.