Associated Press
BIG LAKE — For years, an anonymous donor paid for microscopes and calculators, teacher’s chairs and dictionaries — all kinds of things a small elementary school’s budget doesn’t always stretch to cover.
No one knew the Big Lake Elementary School donor’s identity until recently, when former CIA director Robert Gates stepped forward.
"Anonymity became something of a fiction," Gates told the Skagit Valley Herald. "Even with my background, it became a little ridiculous."
Gates headed the Central Intelligence Agency from 1991 to 1993 before retiring with his wife, Becky, to Big Lake, a small town in Skagit County about five miles southeast of Mount Vernon.
He has challenged his adopted community, setting aside $20,000 in matching funds to help pay for a covered play area that will keep the rain off Big Lake Elementary’s 170 students when they head outside for recess.
That’s put the Big Lake Parents Club well on its way toward a $50,000 fund-raising goal.
Gates, the father of two grown children, said giving to the school has been a fulfilling investment.
"It occurred to me that schools might get a whole bunch of computers but won’t get the software. All these little things add up," Gates said. "How do you fill those gaps?"
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