By Noel O’Driscoll
THE children from senior infants and first class in Shanganamore NS got a wonderful surprise last week when they received a parcel of DVDs from their favourite Hollywood actor Adam Sandler.
The children also received a note from Sandler in which he described them as his “best friends in Ireland”. The children had written to the actor before the summer holidays with the help of their teacher Eilis Candy as a writing project after the children had voted Sandler’s film Bedtime Stories as their all time favourite film.
The children’s letters were forwarded to Mr Sandler through Ms Candy’s aunt, Betty Weigand, (formerly Betty Candy from Athy) who is a good friend of Judy Sandler, (Adam Sandler’s mother).
“My aunt and her friend Barbara Ferdinando presented the letters to Adam Sandler and reported back to the children that he read them immediately to his daughters Sunnie and Sadie, who are both approximately the same age as the senior infant and first class children,” said MsCandy. “He asked my aunt Betty to phone immediately to thank the children for their work and to tell them how moved he was that all these children in Ireland would take the time to write to him.”
Ms Candy went on to add that shortly before Christmas she received another call from her Aunt Betty. She was calling to confirm the children’s ages and to see if all the children celebrated Christmas. She explained that Adam had been in touch with her and wanted to forward on a gift to them. I was assured that Mr Sandler had phoned “his people “ with the information and they were to courier a package as soon as possible.”
Ms Candy decided not to inform the children of this exciting news before Christmas in case of postal delays but the school staff were on a daily watch for the postman in the run up to Christmas none the less.
“Last week there was great excitement when a large parcel arrived from Sony Pictures on behalf of Happy Madison Productions. The parcel contained a huge assortment of DVDs for the children either starring Adam Sandler himself or films produced by his production company, as well as stickers and pictures of his company. He made sure to include the children’s favourite film Bedtimes Stories too. To too. To the children’s joy there was also a handwritten letter from Adam, describing them as “his best friends in Ireland”. He thanked them all for their pictures and letters and wished them all a happy holiday.” Ms Candy says the children were ecstatic to not only receive such an array of expensive gifts but to have a Hollywood star take the time from his busy schedule to write personally to them.
“The children all took home with them a photocopy of the letter to keep. The original will be framed and displayed in the school. One child remarked to me as they left with their presents, ‘imagine he remembered us after all this time’. A great number of parents reported that their social networking sites were very busy with the news to their friends and copies of the letter were being busily forwarded to cousins etc who were all somewhat in disbelief of Mr Sandler’s kindness.”