GILROY—There’s wild celebration at two Gilroy elementary schools, recipients of their largest cash gifts ever, and to make it that much sweeter the more than $20,000 is from an alumnus of their classrooms.
The gifts are the latest in a constant and welcome stream of donations to the Gilroy Unified School District, its teachers and students that so far this year adds up to $94,560, well on the way to last year’s total of $150,613.
Some gifts are huge, some are small, but all are welcome, according to schools superintendent Debbie Flores, who said the recent donations to Glen View and Eliot elementary schools are special as they were given specifically to the district’s two neediest schools by a former student.
“This is just so wonderful, having a former student come back and making a donation, that’s just incredible, Flores said Tuesday, adding, “It’s really one of the most generous gifts we’ve received.”
The exact figure is $21,200. Eliot and its teachers and library will receive $10,800 while Glen View will have $10,400 for supplies.
The donors are Ty Ashford, 31, and his partner Nicholas Jitkoff, 36, both of Palo Alto. The donations were given through a family charitable foundation created by Jitkoff’s family in 1982, the Texas-based L’Aiglon Foundation.
Ashford grew up in Gilroy and attended Rod Kelley Elementary School, South Valley Middle School and Gilroy High School. He is the son of Steve and Linda Ashford, owner of Ashford’s Heirlooms, a downtown antiques emporium. Steve Ashford also serves on the city planning commission.
Ty Ashford explained the gifts this way: “I was reading an article on Reddit a few months ago about the steep out-of-pocket expenses teachers face in providing supplies for their classrooms and their students,” he wrote in an email to the Dispatch.
“On that idea, we came up with the concept for our school grants. I have vivid memories of going through elementary school at Rod Kelley in bright, colorful, and engaging classrooms. I think every student should have the opportunity to make similar memories.”
He said the foundation is being run more and more by the new generation of Nicholas’s family, and one of their priorities is education, so more grants to schools are planned.
The pair plans to tour Glen View and Eliot with school officials on Monday.
Ashford’s family history in Gilroy goes back more than 50 years.
“My grandparents moved here in the early 1960’s when they bought the Western Auto department store, which is now our family’s antique store—Ashford’s Heirlooms in the same location. Growing up, I always saw my parents and grandparents passionately involved in community boards, events and organizations, so I’ve always tried to make that part of who I am too. My partner, Nicholas, comes from a large south Texas family who are as passionate as mine are about making sure our community is more than just a group of people living in close proximity,” he said.
At Glen View, principal Corina Sapien could hardly contain her joy at being a recipient of the donors’ generosity.
“We’re still sort of reeling from it,” she said. “It’s very generous. When we saw the letter our first question was, is this for real?”
She said she wants teachers to be free to use the funds as they see fit in classrooms. One need is for a color printer, she said, echoing Ashford’s comments about his memories of colorful classrooms at Rod Kelley school.
Noting it’s her school’s largest ever single cash donation, Eliot’s principal Patricia Pelino said, “It was unexpected. We feel pretty humble [and] we are so blessed here at Eliot, I cannot describe in words what it means to us.”
She said each teacher will receive $400 for classroom supplies and that special attention will be given to the school’s neediest families and students.
She said she and Eliot’s teachers are very grateful to their benefactors and are looking forward to meeting with Ashford on Monday, Oct. 19 to tour the schools, beginning at Eliot at 1pm.
In addition to funds for school supplies, Ashford and Jitkoff included $2,000 designated for the Eliot library to buy books, Pelino said.
At Ashford’s Heirlooms on Monterey Street, Ty Ashford’s proud father, Steve, said he was thrilled that his son and Jitkoff picked Gilroy schools as recipients.
“This is really a good thing, I was real happy they have chosen Gilroy,” Steve Ashford said.
He said his son always was caring and giving and showed that as he grew up by, for example, working in the Gilroy Senior Center and with handicapped kids at HOPE.
“He grew up with my dad at the [Western Auto] store. He got up in the morning and came downstairs and hung out with grandma and grandpa, retail was in his blood when he was very young,” Steve Ashford said.
To this day, seniors and kids from HOPE with whom Ty Ashford worked remember him fondly, according to his father.
“They always stop in the store and ask, ‘How’s Ty?’” he said.
