Ms. Sarah Needs Us

To know Sarah Thomas, aka Ms Sarah, is to love her. She is the sunshine to our Netherlands rainy days. Her laugh and smile brighten every room and her love of children and teaching them consistently amazes. She wraps our children with love and kindness and now it is our turn to embrace her with our love.

One week ago, Sarah’s sister suffered a massive fire to their family home, unfortunately without content insurance for her rental, all is lost. Most of the family belongings succumbed to the fire. Sarah’s sister has 8 children, 6 of which still live in her family home. Sarah’s family is everything to her and this has devastated them. This has been weighing on Sarah during this last week of school, but she has braved it with a smile on her face continuing to bring joy to her classroom and the school, even though her heart has been breaking.

I believe that we can all step up to cover Sarah’s heart and family, with love and generosity. The family has been temporarily moved to a homeless housing location until the home is toxin free and if livable, they hope to return and start over. The biggest items that will be needed are appliances as the kitchen suffered the highest fire damage. That being said, buying appliances is expensive and with a family of 6 children at home, it seems impossible to imagine recovering them.

I am asking for donations of money to go to Sarah Thomas and the family, in addition to items used or new, for the children. The family loves toys, Legos, jigsaw puzzles and family games. If you all have any items you are willing to donate or purchase, you may bring them to ASH ECC this week or reach out to myself (Leah) or Kelly for a drop off location during the summer. Kelly has also graciously to donate her photography services for families ranging from 200-500 euros, all proceeds will go to Ms. Sarah’s family. For more details, message Kelly directly on WhatsApp, +31 06 11389492. Leah WhatsApp, +31 06 41321748.

Donation details of used or new items for the children are as follows:

4 year old girl

6 year old boy

9 year old boy

12 year old girl

16 year old boy

18 year old boy

21 and 23 year old children are not in the home any longer. They are also raising funds for the family, but I believe we can help them more.

Ms Sarah leaves a mark on everyone she come in contact with. Her dedication, energy and positivity is unlike anyone else. She leaves a trail of warmth and sparkle everywhere she goes and the impact she makes on her students is something that is and will be felt for years to come. With your contribution to the gofundme page we have set up, big or small, we can help take that enormous pressure off of Ms. Sarah’s family.