When Habersham County Head Start Teacher Tiffany Moss passed away at the beginning of the school year due to COVID-19, she left behind a legacy of love for her students that extended far beyond the classroom.
Samantha Ray is the mother of one of her former students, Anna Lisa, now 6 years old. When Anna Lisa was at Head Start, Moss went above and beyond to show her love in and out of the classroom. Moss made special trips to give Anna Lisa birthday gifts at her home during the summer when they were out of class, kept up with her after she went to elementary school and became a friend to Ray.
“She was nothing but sunshine even on a cloudy day for her students and for anyone around her,” Ray says.
When Moss passed away, Ray felt like she needed to continue to honor her by giving back to Head Start students the way she did.
“When she passed, I [thought] the best thing that we could do is to give back to the kids at her school because she loved them,” Ray said. “That’s who she lived for.”
Ray started collecting coats to donate to Head Start students, who are often members of low-income families. She has been amazed by how the community has come together to help her mission; a week ago, she reached out to the Habersham community via the Voice of Habersham Facebook group to ask for donations and was overwhelmed by the response.
“I started it last Sunday and within six days I had all of this,” Ray said. “I was absolutely amazed.”
So far, Ray and her daughter have collected 132 coats, 132 pairs of gloves and mittens and more than 56 beanies. One woman donated 93 brand-new coats from a storage unit to Ray, and a new friend she’s made since she started collecting donations purchased matching gloves for the coats.
Even with all the coats that the Habersham County community has donated, Ray still needs more size 3T to 5T coats to fit the majority of students at Head Start. If you would like to donate, you can reach out to Samantha via email, or drop off coats at Arnold Drug Co. in Cornelia during business hours before Dec. 1.
This isn’t the only time Ray plans to make sure kids have what they need at Head Start. She hopes that in the future, she’ll be able to continue to organize drives to get students everything they need for a safe, comfortable childhood and successful future.
“Give to other people, not just because of the time of year,” she says. “Think about causes in the community. There are so many homeless people around that need blankets or people that you don’t realize may not be getting Christmas, things like that. If you have what you need and you still have money to be able to go out and do stuff, use some of that money to help other people that can’t do anything.”
