The world needs more people like Mrs. McHale

Most of you won't know Mrs. McHale.  You might know her if you went to CFA around the mid-1980s (a high school that was converted to a middle school in the region south of the Finger Lakes in New York State).  If you do know her (or recognize the names Mr. L'Amoreaux, Mr. Baker, or Ms. Gruber) drop me a line, because I might know you.

She was assistant to the principal of the school when I went there.  She was very soft-spoken.  She's very elderly now if she is still alive.

She also made sure that no one went hungry because they forgot their lunch money.

I used to do the morning announcements off and on (my first public speaking experience) and one staple of those announcements was “Will the following people please see Mrs. McHale immediately following announcements?” along with a list of students.  We never said why they were to see her, and for quite a while I didn't know why.  The announcement was discreet.

For a long time, she basically let students borrow money for lunch if they forgot, or maybe even if they couldn't really afford it each day.  This was out of her own pocket.  The morning announcement was to remind the students to pay her back, but the announcement really didn't let that on in order to minimize embarrassment.  It worked as far as I could tell.

I imagine that some students didn't pay her back, but probably not too many.  She did this quietly for many years without fanfare, smoothing over some rough edges so that they wouldn't be distracted because they were hungry.  I don't think I would have understood at the time what a nice, generous thing this was to do, but I do now.  These kinds of gestures make the world a better place.