NATCHEZ — The wishes of Pleasant Acre Day School have been answered so many times, Mary Ann Foggo-Eidt said she almost feels guilty asking such a caring community for even more.

In May, Pleasant Acre — which is a day-treatment program for adult, trainable, mentally-challenged students — received perhaps its largest wish and act of kindness in the school’s 55 year history.

Mary Ann Foggo-Eidt reached out to the community through The Natchez Democrat asking for monetary donations to help pay for the addition of a hydraulic lift to its passenger van, which transports the students around town throughout the week and take trips to Biloxi in the winter and summer.

Instead of a lift to add to its existing van, a new 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.

Foggo-Eidt said she sometimes still cannot believe the generous donation.

“Our wish list last was so miraculously taken care of that it’s still overwhelming to think about how great this community can be,” Foggo-Eidt said. “We couldn’t do what we do without this community, and God has directed them to us in the past so much that we just feel so blessed.”

The students took their first out-of-town trip on the van this summer when they went to Biloxi for their annual summer trip.

In order to continue making the trips each summer, Foggo-Eidt said she is calling on her angels in the community once again for monetary donations to help fund the trips.

Foggo-Eidt said she was forced to cancel the school’s December trip to Biloxi because of lack of funding and wants to start taking measures now to ensure that doesn’t happen for the students’ summer trip.

“We don’t receive any funding other than the contributions we get from the community or that we make from our shops,” said Foggo-Eidt, referring to a thrift-shop style store the school runs at its building. “To keep the doors open, pay the utilities and try to take the kids on their summer trip can be a lot.”

The students at the school also repurpose donated Mardi Gras beads throughout the year that they then resell at the school for events such as local parades.

Foggo-Eidt said the school sold many beads for the Natchez and Vidalia Christmas parades and will put that money toward the summer Biloxi trip.

Apart from monetary donations, Foggo-Eidt said another item that is going on her wish list is for some electrical work to fix a light on the school property.

“We have a security light out back and the wiring and everything else is there, but it just won’t work,” Foggo-Eidt said. “We’ve been fortunate with our security around here, but we feel like having that fixed would help a lot.”

Anyone wishing to donate to the school can mail checks to P.O. Box 1362, Natchez, MS, 39121 or contact Foggo-Eidt at 601-442-2264.