'Little Miss Flint' Raises Money To Buy School Supplies For 1,000 Local Kids

She helped raise enough to provide school supplies for 1000 students

Amid the chaos of 2017, with Russia and North Korea and Charlottesville, smaller scale stories like ones taking place in Flint, Michigan can sometimes be overlooked.

Thankfully, one little girl is doing her best to help her city from the inside.

The Huffington Post has the story of Amariyanna “Mari” Copeny, aka Little Miss Flint, and her efforts to make sure her classmates have the supplies they need for the new school year.

In 2016, Mari participated in the #PackYourBack Challenge on Twitter, filling 100 backpacks with school supplies. This year she managed to fill 1000.

Pack Your Back is a non-profit organization that was started by a group of students at Central Michigan University after they visited Flint during the (still ongoing) water crisis and decided to do something.

“We saw the need that was in the city at the time during the water crisis for water, but we also saw how it was having an impact on students,” Galen Miller, Pack Your Back’s executive director, told Huffington Post.

Mari lives in Flint, and just wants to help. “I’m a Flint kid that wants to help all the other Flint kids,” she said.

By filling 1000 backpacks and raising $10,000 online, she’s doing just that.

“I wanted to make sure kids got the best start possible to the school year and for their parents to not have to worry about having to buy supplies,” Mari said.

Flint is having a rough go of it lately, but thanks to Mari’s efforts and the dedication of the Pack Your Back organization, a whole bunch of school kids are going to have all the supplies they need to start the year right.

This little 10-year-old girl is a great example that sometimes when you need something done, you can always go ahead and do it yourself.