Josette Drummond has always considered herself a Toronto Raptors fan.
But her fandom for the team grew even more fervent when Scottie Barnes stepped in and donated $50,000 this week to help her school cover its expenses and, ultimately, save it.
Drummond, the owner and principal of Polkadots Playland & Montessori Academy in Brampton — which offers special programming for children with autism spectrum disorder — proudly displayed basketballs decorated with the team’s logo in the school’s windows and had “Raptors-mania” as the team was making their now-storied championship run in 2019.
The school had been actively asking for donations on the fundraising website GoFundMe, with a goal of $80,000 to “keep Polkadots open.” On their page, the school said that they have been “battling” since the pandemic “to stay afloat,” owing some of their struggles to “rising operational costs for rent, utilities, insurance and staffing.”
In a letter to parents earlier this month, Drummond shared the state of play with those who’d supported Polkadots; she was incredibly grateful for their donations, she said, but they were still well short of their goal.
“I always had this faith we would get it, but I wasn’t seeing the how,” she admitted. “It was all amazingly energetic, but we had, like, 10 more days and still $50,000 left to go.”
Then, she suddenly got a call from a representative for Barnes, who told her that he’d heard about their fundraiser and wanted to help them get over the hump. By Friday, Polkadots had the money in hand and had reached their goal.
To keep things transparent for would-be donors, she added a $50,000 “offline” donation to the GoFundMe tally and wrote on the page that “the positive energy behind this amazing outpouring of support will fuel everything we do.”
“You know, I’ve always believed miracles are possible, but to witness one in real-time is mind-blowing,” she told the Star, adding that she’s almost in tears just talking about it. “It’s overwhelming joy.”
25 comments
Huh did he go to a Montessori school? Would explain a lot
It’s like the plot of the blues brothers
My goat Scottie
City boys up
He has to do this because of the premier of Ontario, Dougie Ford, severely defunded autism supports. I’m quite glad Scottie did this but it’s infuriating he has to.
A lot of us, myself included, poke fun at Scottie for his quirky, autistic tendencies, but this is a real class act move on his part. He seems like a good guy.
This is amazing from Scottie, but if the school is struggling and needs the 50k how can it stay open for much longer? Realistically, that’s a few months of expenses at the MOST.
That is awesome . Good for scottie
Is that the school he went to growing up?
I dont wanna say this to just sound like a good person lmao, but I am gonna say it anyways. I really wish I was as rich as these guys so that I could donate to places that I care about in my city. I love quite a few of local businesses around me and man would I love to just walk in and ask them what they want and be able to give it to them. I have this Pho restaurant I always go too (like 1-2 times a week after college classes). I would love to donate to them, they know be by name.
Wow, this is incredible and makes me feel like the Scottie Barnes Special needs jokes should probably be retired. Dude is truly a special person though, no pun intended.
Embiid would’ve donated 50K to close it down
Such a great story but we all know people gonna make jokes all cause its a school for kids with autism
that’s cool. i always say that the best thing you can take away from school is learning how to learn. finding the joy in it because everything else you eventually forget. even if you fall behind and have a harder time learning derivatives, integrals all that good stuff, you’ll eventually catch up if you have the motivation and knowhow to learn. that and making friends. school is great for that too.
As a Montessori parent and a fan of the NBA, this made my day.
I love Scottie
Nice gesture but as a former Montessori student, a private school where students are paying 10s of thousands to attend asking for donations is kind of insane.
Good guy Scottie.
Scottie Barnes signed a $224,237,860 contract with the Toronto Raptors, including $224,237,860 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $44,847,572.
The 2024 average income per year per person in America is $60,000.
$50,000 is 0.111% of $44,847,572.
.011% of $60,000 is $6
Brampton vich munda rehnda
That’s cool of him but I would rather private education just didn’t exist at all.
I love Scottie
It’s a nice gesture by Scottie but this is a private school. How much do they charge for tuition? I can’t imagine it’s cheap so who’s poorly managing their finances?
it’s great but that private school takes in insane amounts of tuition, there are a lot more public schools that are severely underfunded and lacking so many things.
Montessori schools are amazing, this is great.