The mother that helped donate 140 coats to Head Start in memory of Habersham County Head Start Teacher Tiffany Moss has started another drive in Moss’s memory, this time for booster seats.
Moss passed away in the fall of this year due to COVID-19, and left behind a legacy of love and care for her students, extending far beyond the classroom. Samantha Ray, the mother of one of Moss’s former students, wanted to keep giving back to Head Start students in her honor.
Ray organized a coat drive that collected more than 140 coats to donate to Head Start, but she knew that coats weren’t the only things that many Head Start students and their families need. Ray says that she learned from the school’s family resource officer that 50 to 75 percent of Head Start’s students are dropped off and picked up from school every day without a booster seat.
After learning about the need for booster seats and with the safety of Head Start’s children in mind after recently losing one student in a fatal wreck, Ray got to work.
“It has given me so much more purpose,” Ray tells Now Habersham. “I know Tiffany would be thrilled knowing that all of the kids are warm and safe. I’m so proud of our community for coming together.”
Ray began collecting booster seats Dec. 1 to donate before Christmastime so that children could travel safely during the holidays.
“[Donations] started out slow,” Ray said. “I wasn’t sure what kind of response we would get since so many in our community had already helped with the coat drive.”
But that wasn’t the case for long. Alongside Jessica Thompson, whose daughter was also in Moss’s class with Ray’s daughter, the booster seat drive has collected more than 20 booster seats with 10 more on the way.
“My friend at Arnold Drug Co. has had several brought to him,” Ray said. “I’ve received donations towards online orders, I have even had co-workers offer to get some and bring them to work.”
If you or anyone you know would like to donate booster seats, they can be dropped off at Arnold Drug Co. in Cornelia, or you can contact Ray via email to arrange a pickup. She plans to donate the booster seats she and Thompson have collected to Head Start on Monday.
