EGG HARBOR CITY - Sometimes it just seems like just like the right thing to do.

Those were the sentiments of an Egg Harbor City woman and former teacher who decided last week to anonymously donate $720 so that 100 Community School seventh- and eighth-graders could go see a movie.

But it wasn’t just any movie that she chose. The woman selected the current hit  “Red Tails” that tells the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, an all all-black squadron of distinguished World War II fighter pilots and support personnel. The movie stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrance Howard, and Nate Parker among many others.

The students will see “Red Tails” during a special showing Monday, Feb. 13 at the Regal Theater in Hamilton Township.

Community School Principal Jack Griffith said the former teacher’s call took him by surprise. She decided to act after reading in an area newspaper about a similar donation made so that inner city students could go see the movie.

“After reading it she thought, ‘I can do that,’” Griffith said. “Within a few hours she was in my office with a check for $720. Our donor made it happen immediately, and we are incredibly grateful.”

Griffith added that teachers and administrators talk regularly with the students about the notion of “paying it forward.” They encourage the school’s students to doing something good for others after someone has been kind enough to do something generous for them.

After he told the students they would be going to see “Red Tails,” Griffith challenged each of them to find something they could do for someone else.

And then he challenged them to do it.

Eighth-grader Ralph Rodriguez, an avid reader, told Griffith that he is planning to begin reading to his 15-month-old cousin, Zuri, to help her begin to like to read.

Another student, Jeremy Lenzi, also an eighth-grader, will offer to mow the lawn of a neighbor who has difficulty walking.

Of course Lenzi will have to wait until the growing season begins in spring, but it’s the thought that counts.