Shortly after school started the day before Thanksgiving, third graders at Rock Creek Elementary in Maple Valley had a holiday gift for Vine Maple Place.
Organized by Tina McDonough, whose daughter Trista is a student there, along with teacher Lisa Mocquet, the fundraiser was a huge success generating $850.
“Did you guys have fun doing this,” McDonough asked the youngsters, to which they replied in youthful unison, “Yes!”
The seven classes of third grade students had filled up piggy banks for two weeks as a pilot project fundraiser for the Maple Valley-based Christian non-profit that serves homeless single parents and their children by providing transitional housing, financial training, counseling and connections to educational opportunities, among other services.
McDonough asked how many of the students gave up tooth fairy money or quarters for popcorn and many raised their hands.
“This program that Vine Maple Place started this year is a pilot program, so, you guys were special to be picked to do this,” McDonough said. “What a great gift to give to Vine Maple Place with Thanksgiving being tomorrow. You guys have been amazing. What you’ve done the past two weeks has been amazing.”
Colleen Starr, director and co-founder of VMP, told the children, “You did awesome!”
“You’ve been a wonderful encouragement to us,” Starr said. “What you’re doing is helping children and their parents get out of their cars and into safe, warm home homes.”
This project began out of an idea which came from a VMP development team brainstorming session, McDonough told the Reporter in mid-November, and she said she was happy to take the idea to her daughter’s school to see if there was an interest.
McDonough pitched the idea to the third grade teachers, who embraced it, then to their students who were enthusiastic.
It was a great opportunity, Mocquet told the Reporter in an email interview, to teach the children about being community contributors and “this type of fundraiser fits in perfectly with our curriculum and our community needs.”
After the children learned of how much money they raised — they put coins into clear plastic banks shaped like houses with the Vine Maple Place logo printed on the side — they all got to have ice cream provided by McDonough’s company One.7, Inc.
Mocquet told the third graders on Nov. 23 she was impressed with them.
“When I came to tell you about this you were so polite,” she said. “You have such giving hearts. I want to thank you for having such generous hearts. I am so proud of you.”
