The Rainier View Elementary student council has only been around a few weeks, but its first mission was to help Molly’s Mission — and they succeeded with flying colors.
In just a week and a half, students brought in 353 pairs of shoes and raised $718.30 for Molly’s Mission, which will send supplies and funds to Haiti in memory of Molly Hightower, a Washington resident who died in last month’s earthquake. Molly had been spending her year working at an orphanage in Haiti when the earthquake hit.
Margo Hightower, Molly’s aunt and the principal at Enterprise Elementary School in Federal Way, met with the students on Friday, thanking them for all their work while sharing photos of Molly.
“I had the honor and pleasure of being Molly’s aunt,” Margo said. “She chose to make a difference for one year. She was on a mission to truly make a difference.”
Molly loved the musical “Rent” and was inspired by the song “Seasons of Love” and its line “Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes…how do you measure a year in the life?”
That song and several others played from a DVD that Margo brought, chronicling Molly’s life from curly-haired toddler, family scenes, traveling and high school sports. In every photo, she was smiling.
“She would be really upset if she saw me crying,” Margo said. “Every picture I have is of her smiling.”
Margo also told the students that while driving over to their school, she knew they would have good news for her.
“There was a great big rainbow,” she said. “And that’s Molly, she’s telling me she’s so happy with what you did. You can make a difference and you did that.”
The video ended with footage Molly had sent home shortly before the earthquake: A dancing party at the orphanage, which brought smiles and some laughter to Margo and all the students watching.
The students have already begun boxing up several dozen pairs of shoes, but still have six garbage bins filled with shoes.
Students gave up recess to package the shoes.
“It’s fun to help people,” fifth-grader Mario Mason said. “It makes a difference.”
Students also said they learned a lot more about Molly after seeing the video, especially seeing the kids who will receive the shoes. When asked if they would ever forget Molly now, all the students said no.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart and from all of Molly’s family,” Margo said. “This is going to be a very big deal over there.”
Learn more
The shoes will join about 15,000 shoes that have been donated from schools around the state to Molly’s Mission. Shoes have also been dropped off at Service Steel Aerospace, where Molly’s dad, Mike Hightower, is the general manager.
Other schools in the district have also started campaigns to help the people of Haiti.
• Through Feb. 12, the junior class at Federal Way High School is collecting funds for Haiti. For more information, contact Melissa Gollegly at (253) 945-5449.
• Meredith Hill Elementary has already raised nearly $1,700 for World Vision. Their campaign also goes through Feb. 12.
• Enterprise Elementary, Margo’s school, has also collected about 750 pairs of shoes.
• Kilo Middle School, where Jordon Hightower (Molly’s sister) was a student teacher and a softball coach last year, has conducted a school-wide fundraiser, with the money going to the Red Cross on behalf of Molly.
• Lakota Middle School raised $1,500 that was donated to World Vision.
• Sequoyah Middle School has been collecting water bottles and has received 804 containers so far. Once they reach 1,000, World Vision will come and pick up the bottles. They hope to keep the fundraiser going until the end of April.
• Todd Beamer High School is also collecting money for World Vision.
