Why did these Fort Mill tots help in Appalachia? ‘Because they got hungry bellies’

They’re little, but their hearts are big.

They can tell you the names of the children they helped, though they’ve never met them. And they’re learning that although they’re just 4 and 5 years old, they can make a big impact.

The Transitional Kindergarten classes at Field of Dreams Nurture and Education Center in Fort Mill’s Baxter Village spearheaded a center-wide clothing drive and raised funds for a Christmas dinner for families in the impoverished McDowell County in West Virginia, resulting in 30 bags of clothing, 500 boxes of mashed potatoes and $800 in additional funds for the dinners raised.

T-K teacher Jess Doster heard through a family member that the Head Start program in McDowell was in need of clothing for their students. The county’s poverty rate is so high that many residents live without necessities like electricity and running water. Doster and fellow teacher Michala Collins visited the community to bring donations and spoke of the dire conditions there.

“The houses were so rundown. We learned that 80 percent of the water there is raw sewage. They have to get their water from creeks,” Collins said. “You don’t think of people in the U.S. living like that.”

Doster said she had been looking for a project for her class to undertake, to begin to teach the importance of helping others who are less fortunate and “to give a sense of empowerment to our students, to let them know that they can already make a difference.”

“When we found out it was kids their age, we presented it to them and it really took off from there,” she said.

This was not simply a “write a check” project, Doster said, but rather a hands-on, collaborative effort with the preschoolers. Once the teachers explained the circumstances in McDowell, the children brainstormed ways that they could help.

“In West Virginia, they didn’t have any clothes, so we gave them some more clothes,” said Lauren Wetmore, 5.

During the clothing drive, the children made the connection themselves that if the children in West Virginia needed clothing, they probably needed food as well. That is when they decided to collect boxes of mashed potatoes and hold a fundraiser.

“We did a fun run and brought money for the people in West Virginia to get food,” said Charlott Walker, 4. “We loaded 500 boxes of mashed potatoes,” added Lukin Mann. “To give them a Christmas dinner,” Isabella Cullen, 4, chimed in.

Doster and Collins took pictures of some of the children receiving the donations, so that their Fort Mill students could put a name and face with their efforts.

“We talked about them as children that are just in a different circumstance than they are,” Doster said.

Though the Fort Mill children don’t know the children in West Virginia, they do know that they helped a child their same age receive much needed clothing and a warm meal this Christmas.

“Because they got hungry bellies,” said Aubrey Martinez, 4.

This story was originally published December 13, 2016 at 5:52 PM with the headline "Why did these Fort Mill tots help in Appalachia? ‘Because they got hungry bellies’."