This 5-Year-Old Girl Wants Every Kid in Her Class to Have Milk Money

Elisabeth Sherman
Updated

Remember when John Legend donated $5,000 to help end school debt? Or when a Seattle dad launched a campaign to pay for the school lunches of students in an entire school district? Their generosity was unmatched at the time. But there’s a new school lunch hero in town: Her name is Sunshine, and she’s a 5-year-old kindergartener from Michigan.

Sunshine’s grandmother, Jackie, first noticed that the little girl had dumped her piggy bank out on the living room floor and was patiently counting the coins about two weeks ago, according to a report from CBS News. At first, she thought Sunshine was playing a game, but then she noticed that her granddaughter had placed all the change and a few bills into a plastic bag, which she placed inside her backpack.

When Jackie asked what she was up to, Sunshine told her grandmother that she planned to take the money to her school to give to her friend Layla.

“She doesn't get milk — her mom doesn't have milk money and I do,” she reportedly informed her grandmother.

Understandably stunned by the compassion and generosity of the young girl, she met with her teacher at Birchview Elementary School and handed over the money—about $30 dollars in total—explaining that Sunshine wanted to make sure all her classmates would be able to have milk at lunch. There are only 20 kids in Sunshine’s class; half of them don’t get milk, even though it only costs $0.45 per carton.

In a video posted to Facebook, Jackie announced that she would be launching a GoFundMe page, hoping to raise at least $700, which would cover the cost of milk for everyone in Sunshine's class for the entire semester. She’s far exceeded her goal, raising almost $4,000 as of today—that’s more enough for the second semester, too. She’s now hoping to raise a total of $5,000, which would cover the months of November, December, and January, as well.

Regardless of how successful the GoFundMe is, Sunshine hasn’t given up her original mission. On her Facebook page, Jackie says that Sunshine is still bringing money from her piggy bank to class to give to kids so they get their milk.