NATCHEZ — Mary Ann Foggo-Eidt said she has always believed in the “angels” that have helped Pleasant Acre Day School along the way, but an angel’s latest act literally took her breath away.

A 14-passenger van complete with a hydraulic wheelchair lift was donated to the school in January by a group of anonymous donors through a local car dealership.

The act of kindness left Foggo-Eidt speechless.

“When they called and told me about the van, I just didn’t know what to say,” Fogg-Eidt said. “We’ve always gotten a great response from the community whenever we ask for something, but this went above and beyond what we were expecting.”

Pleasant Acre is a day-treatment program for adult, trainable, mentally-challenged students. The curriculum in place is designed to help students acquire life skill and self-help skills through life-enrichment programs.

In December, Foggo-Eidt reached out to the community through The Natchez Democrat hoping to receive enough monetary donations to help make taking the school’s students on trips much easier. Pleasant Acre was featured in a holiday series called “Season of Wishes,” which focused on the needs of local non-profit organizations.

The students go bowling every Monday, out to eat once a month and take trips to Biloxi in the winter and summer.

Foggo-Eidt said the trips were becoming more difficult for the aging students with physical disabilities because the school’s 1997 15-passenger van didn’t have a lift or any type of assistance to help them in the van.

Foggo-Eidt put the word out in the community and received a call the next day from Brad Yarbrough, owner of Natchez Ford.

“I got a call from a guy who wanted to remain anonymous and said he had seen in The Democrat where Pleasant Acre Day School was needing a new van,” Yarbrough said. “He got with some other people, and we started working with the school to pick out a van that met their needs and specifications.”

Foggo-Eidt spent a few days discussing what the school needed in their van, and Yarbrough eventually found the perfect match through an auction in New Mexico.

The van made its way to Natchez and Yarbrough said members of Natchez Ford helped make some needed repairs with the $20,000 anonymous donation before handing the van’s keys over to the school.

“It was so exciting to be a part of the process, because we knew this was for such a good cause,” Yarbrough said. “(Foggo-Eidt) was so excited when she came to pick up the van, that I think she was walking on air.

“It just made my day to be able to help them get that van.”

The 2005 Ford E-450 Super Duty diesel van is a lot more truck than what Foggo-Eidt is used to handling, but said it’s exactly what the school needed.

“It scared me a little bit when they first cranked it up because it’s so loud, but it really has everything we need,” Foggo-Eidt said. “It was really hard for some of our students to travel without any kind of lift to get them in and out of the van.

“This van has all that, plus the extra space for all of our stuff when we go on trips.”

The students have taken a ride in the van several times in town already, but will take their first out-of-town trip in two weeks when they travel to Biloxi for their annual summer trip.

The school’s “maiden voyage” in the van, Foggo-Eidt said, would not have been possible without the generosity of a few “angels” looking out for the school.

“We’re just so appreciative of those who decided to help us out, but since we don’t know who they are we just want to thank the entire community,” Foggo-Eidt said. “It made me realize that there really are angels out there flying around.”