Little girl empties piggy bank for surprising reason
Oct 19, 2017, 8:20 AM | Updated: Oct 1, 2024, 10:29 am
(Contributed)
(Contributed)
Kids often do funny things but with my own daughter, I’ve found that kids do it with an open heart.
A Michigan grandmother found that out as she was watching, curiously, as her 5-year-old granddaughter, Sunshine, marched into the living room with her piggy banks and then dumped them out.
She started “counting” — carefully lining up stacks of nickels, pennies, and dimes. Jackie Sue Oelfke thought maybe Sunshine was just playing or practicing counting.
But then, Sunshine got a plastic baggie and put the coins inside. She placed the bag full of money next to her school backpack. That’s when Jackie told me, she got involved because Sunshine had been saving up money to buy a snowmobile. She says until this day Sunshine had never touched her money. Sunshine was dedicated to the chores she did to save up the cash for the snowmobile.
So where was that money going? Jackie explains the rest in a video she posted to Facebook.
“I was like ‘what are we doing with this money?’ and she said she was taking it to school for her friend. She says because of her friend … her friend’s mom doesn’t have milk money and she has money,” Jackie explained.
She says her heart sank and melted at the same time. The next day they brought the money to school. Jackie spoke with Sunshine’s teacher and learned that out of the 20 kids in her class about half don’t get milk. That’s when this pure act of kindness went a little further.
Jackie started a GoFundMe page to cover the cost of milk for any classmate for the year. She estimated she’d need a few hundred dollars. As these things typically go, the goal of a few hundred dollars was quickly surpassed and Sunshine’s campaign has now brought in nearly $10,000.
“This is a real-life moment. With all the hatred in the world that this little 5-year-old just has so much love an compassion for her friends … I’m very proud of her,” Jackie said in the Facebook video.
I know how she feels. My daughter started attending a new school in September and when I’d ask about her day she’d say, “I don’t have any friends.” Talk about a gut punch.
Fortunately, we have excellent communication with her teacher and I asked if she could keep an eye on this. Perhaps pair up my daughter with a new friend so they could get to know each other better. Her teacher wrote me back some reassurances and this very sweet story:
“There was a boy in our class who’s feelings were hurt by another friend while playing outside. [Your daughter] saw him crying and came up to him, offering a flower she picked! He accepted the flower and said thank you. [She] told him, “When you feel sad, you can hold this and it will make you feel better!” It melted my heart and it made the boy feel so much better. They played outside together for the rest of the day.”
Can we all be this kind?
You can hear Colleen O’Brien’s “Daily Dose of Kindness” segment every morning at 7:30 a.m. on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM
