Third grader Emily rallies her community for Mary's Place

A third grader at Arbor Montessori in Sammamish, Emily Moore knows how to rally support and spread a message! With the help of her physical education (PE) teacher, Ms. Maxine, Emily organized a Friendship Drive on campus to collect much-needed items for our kids at Mary's Place. Emily created flyers and spoke in front of classrooms, sharing information about the Friendship Drive and why it's important to help. It didn't take long for her friends to respond, donating food items for Mobile Meal Kits, sheets, pajamas, stuffies, and bedtime story books for  Night Night Kits. Kids from kindergarten to sixth grade teamed up to build each Kit, being thoughtful about what kids at Mary's Place would enjoy.

"I really wanted to help families in need, and with the help of Nicole (Head of School), we found Mary's Place!" shared Emily. With Valentine's Day and at our school, Friendship Day, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to help families and give back to the community!" 

"Working with Emily on the Friendship Drive was an awesome experience!" said Ms. Maxine. "Seeing her bring all the elementary students together to help other families was inspiring! I am so proud of all her hard work that came from one idea to help others!" 

With such a great response, Emily expanded the drive to her dad's workplace, ABM Industries. Employees of ABM collected even more items and even supplied one of their vans to transport the donations to Mary's Place.

"When I told my colleagues at ABM about Emily's Friendship Drive and asked if they wanted to help as part of our quarterly volunteer program, they were an enthusiastic yes!" says Emily's dad, Brian. "It was fun to share this experience with my daughter."

Mary's Place received 90 Mobile Meal Kits and 33 Night Night Kits thanks to Emily, her classmates at Arbor Schools, and ABM Industries. The kits were delivered on Valentine's Day with lots of love!