Piggy banks at Rock Creek Elementary are filling with coins.

It was a simple idea which came out of a development team meeting at Vine Maple Place.

Tina McDonough just volunteered to try and get it going.

“I’ve got a third grader,” McDonough said. “I just approached her teacher, Lisa Mocquet, and said, ‘What if I come and talk to all the third graders?’ She didn’t know if all the teachers would be on board.”

McDonough went in before school started one day and spoke with all of the third grade teachers at Rock Creek.

“I told them I wanted to explain to the kids about the face of homelessness,” she said. “After I talked to them… they were all on board.”

Mocquet, who is also a friend of McDonough’s, said she was happy to help.

“I have such a heart for the efforts of Vine Maple Place and of course for anything Tina is involved in that I was on board right away,” Mocquet wrote in an email interview. “I arranged to have Tina come talk to the 3rd grade team about piloting a program for the school or for the district. I was enthused about this…. at Rock Creek, we take part in the Maple Valley food drive and also in the toy drive. We have also taken part in Global Initiatives like Pennies for Peace.  However, this fundraiser seemed to be the first of a kind…collecting money to provide for local needs. As third graders, the students learn about being a community contributor and about Maple Valley and its history. This type of fundraiser fits in perfectly with our curriculum and our community needs.”

Vine Maple Place is a Christian non-profit based in Maple Valley that serves homeless single parents and their children by providing transitional housing, financial training, counseling and connections to educational opportunities, among other services.

“I did three different presentations (to the kids),” McDonough said. “I brought a seven minute video. I went to Vine Maple Place’s website and printed off pictures of kids. It went really well.”

She asked the kids what they thought of when they heard the word homeless and the responses were the stereotypical ratty looking man on the corner who likes as though he hasn’t bathed in weeks.

“I showed them my poster and their faces just dropped,” McDonough said.

The poster had pictures of children, even one that attends the school, and the youngsters saw that homelessness could look like them, she said.

“The children showed great empathy and concern during the message,” Mocquet said. “They were surprised to learn that even kids in Maple Valley face difficult times. The students had the best suggestions as to where they could find or raise money. Many suggested that they have a garage sale, lemonade stand, donate the money they generally use to buy popcorn on Fridays, check their dryers and sofas, donate their allowances, etc.”

And the Rock Creek third graders embraced the challenge of filling up the piggy banks.

“One girl said her mom gives her two quarters every week for popcorn and she doesn’t really like popcorn, so, she would donate those quarters every week,” McDonough said. “I had to call on every single kid in every presentation because they all had stories like that.”

McDonough said her daughter, Trista, came home from school on the first day and told her that the piggy bank was overflowing.

“When my class came back to the classroom and I showed them the bank, immediately kids started pulling change out of their pockets to be able to donate,” Mocquet wrote. “Even some of my students who have their own financial burdens donated what they had. Some gave up their popcorn money. It was hard for me to not just go buy my class popcorn that day. But I allowed them to feel the pride and joy of sacrificing a bit for the benefit of others. They have been so excited about their donations.  Initially, they were asked only to bring spare change. Many brought dollar bills as well for the benefit of Vine Maple Place.  Our bank was full within 24 hours and the donations continue to roll in.”

McDonough said she was thrilled with the initial response.

“It’s an amazing thing we can start,” she said. “I’m excited that it started with our little people. I can tell you that money is going to add up quickly. There’s seven teachers, so, if each (piggy bank) is filled up that’s $700. I’m just really excited.”

For McDonough, who has volunteered at VMP for six years, it was about giving back to the community.

“We’ve wrapped our hearts around what Ron and Colleen (Starr) have started and those families,” she said. “That’s why I picked third graders, our kids get more than we think they do. We’re breaking the cycle of homelessness.”

McDonough will collect and count the coins on Nov. 22, after the Reporter’s early holiday deadline this week, and presented the check the next day.

“The biggest joy will be… when we total up the amount of money donated by these caring and generous children,” Mocquet. “We will be presenting a check to Colleen Starr, the director of Vine Maple Place. Cory and Tina McDonough will be providing ice cream for an ice cream social. The ice cream social will be offered to all students in celebration of their giving attitudes. All in all, I would say this ‘pilot’ fundraiser was a huge success.”