There are few things in the world as warm as a teacher’s love, but a coat for a child donated in a beloved teacher’s memory is awfully close.
Habersham County Head Start Teacher Tiffany Moss passed away at the beginning of the school year due to COVID-19, leaving behind a legacy of love for Head Start students.
Samantha Ray is the mother of one of Moss’s former students, who Moss left a deep impact on with her kindness and generosity. Ray wanted to keep giving in her honor, and make sure the children she cared so much about at Head Start continued to have their needs met in her absence.
Ray began her coat drive in memory of Moss in November, and within just a few short weeks, had collected more than 140 coats to donate to Head Start. Wednesday morning, she brought them to the school.
Habersham community members came together to make sure Head Start students had warm coats to bundle up in this winter, with one woman donating 93 coats to the drive. After sharing her story with Now Habersham, more people reached out to donate.
“Several employees from Piedmont University reached out to me,” Ray said. “[They] gave us about six coats and a whole bag of mittens and hats.”
With the community’s help, the Head Start library is now full of brand-new coats, warm hats and tiny mittens to keep Habersham’s children in need cozy this winter.
“[Dropping off coats] was absolutely amazing,” Ray said. “I was so excited about how they greeted me at the door when I first got here, and they told me about how they’re going to present them [the coats] to the kids.”
The school plans to organize the donated coats by size and let parents and students pick out the perfect coat. They hope to have this event in the near future and have a “fashion show” where kids can take photos in their new coats.
“I plan on coming back, because this is incredible,” Ray said.
