'Lunch Angels' step in after Durham school robbery
DURHAM (WTVD) -- Two local business owners, calling themselves "Lunch Angels," are helping out a Durham elementary school after its cafeteria was broken into.
Kyle Newman, owner of Craige Motors, and Erik Neill, owner of Neill's Family Taekwondo and Fitness, decided to give back to Pearsontown Elementary after four Durham Public Schools were broken into last week.
The principal of Pearsontown, Rod Teal, says someone broke the glass on the backdoor to the cafeteria and stole $170 from the cafeteria's office. He says the thief then broke the glass on the door to the main office to pull the handle open when alarms went off.
"I myself went to Pearsontown Elementary," Newman said. "And when we heard that someone broke in and had done damage, well we feel like we have some ownership of the schools, and we wanted to see what we could do to make it right."
Newman and Neill delivered a check to the elementary school for the stolen funds on Monday and offered to pay for any damages made to the property.
The two are part of a group of small business owners dedicated to paying back school lunch debts for kids at local schools. The group is called the "Lunch Angels." It's a story ABC11 Eyewitness News has covered before.
Read more about the Lunch Angels..
Check out the Lunch Angels on Facebook.
Principal Teal said the donations are a welcomed blessing.
"The fact that they actually helped us last year with our overdue lunch accounts and they were able to come back again this year and contribute to those things, it really helped us out in terms of being able to help serve our kids the best way we can," Teal said.
Both Newman and Neill said they'd like to see more small business owners join them.
"We wanted to make sure that we could really make a difference and step up," Neill said. "There's other businesses that have the opportunity to do the same in our community and we like to lead by example. All these great ideas without action are only good intentions."
