Tears welled up in Migdalia Acevedo’s eyes as she spoke of the day when the school bus refused to take her physically and mentally challenged daughter, Abigail Acevedo, in because the brakes of her wheelchair were not working.

“I drove her to school and told [her teacher] about it,” Migdalia Acevedo said, as Abigail, a seventh-grader at Coral Springs Middle School, sat in the new wheelchair gifted to her by teachers and students of the school Friday. “It’s wonderful that you have people in the world who see a need and do not close their eyes to it.”

Students and teachers raised $1,900 in the the last three months, through a fundraiser the school’s National Junior Honor Society organized for Abigail. An anonymous donor pitched in the rest of the money for the wheelchair that cost $4,900.

Roxanne Rubiano, Abigail’s teacher, said it was a joint effort. “The students were so wonderful in their generosity towards my little girl," Rubiano said. "Sean Flignor, a seventh-grader, donated $200, his birthday money. A parent donated a bike to raffle off. A girl I met in the hallway told me she bought beads so that Abigail could get a new wheelchair. This is the perfect end to a perfect year."

Read the detailed story in the June 5 issue of the Coral Springs Forum.