Six-year-old girl holds food drive for needy kids in Montgomery County
Emmaleigh Pierce of Derwood collected nearly 500 pounds of food for needy children Saturday. (FOX 5 DC)
DERWOOD, Md. - Age doesn’t matter when all you want to do is help give back to the community.
That was the goal for 6-year-old Emmaleigh Pierce of Derwood, who spent her Saturday collecting nearly 500 pounds of food to feed hungry children her age.
Emmaleigh's mother, Melissa Pierce, said that Emmaleigh told her she’s worried there are kids who are hungry.
So what did her mom do? She took to social media and on Saturday they filled up boxes full of donated food.
"I’m gonna do my food drive," the young girl said with excitement.
It was a food drive that saw no shortage of canned donations coming from all over the Derwood community.
"I thought that those hungry kids needed some food so I decided I should give them some food," Emmaleigh said.
It’s an act of kindness that her proud mom said, she’s not totally surprised by.
"This is just her character," said Pierce. "She has always been very caring and loving toward others."
The mother of three said that most local organizations have an age requirement of 14 to volunteer.
But when she came across Women Who Care Ministries, based in Gaithersburg, the organization offered to help the young girl launch her food drive.
"The food we collect is going to directly support kids her age," said Pierce.
Emmaleigh said she wanted to collect 500 pounds of donated food.
"They (kids) can’t survive they can’t live without food," said Emmaleigh.