Little Girl Breaks Piggy Bank to Help Poor Classmate – Her Grandmother Finds Out and Tells the Public

A little girl melted many hearts when she decided to sacrifice her savings to help her less fortunate friend. Her little action led to a chain of good reactions after the news went rival on social media. Here are the details.

Humanity is a great thing to witness, and children are usually the ones with spades of it as the world's vices have not corrupted them. In 2017, a five-year-old girl named Sunshine Oelfke from Ishpeming, Michigan, demonstrated kindness and started a chain of good without meaning to.

Sunshine was a girl who was living with her grandmother Jackie Oelfke because her own mother was a drug addict who had made many trips to jail, which meant she had no time to care for her child.

Jackie was left with that responsibility, and she carried it as best as possible by raising Sunshine with love and care while teaching her to do anything she set her mind to.

One day, she noticed her granddaughter emptying her piggy bank onto their living room floor, after which she promptly started counting. Baffled, Jackie watched as Sunshine carefully arranged the stacks of nickels, pennies, and dimes, but she thought the girl was simply playing.

She ditched the thought when she saw little Sunshine stuff all the change inside a plastic bag and put it in the front pouch of her school bag. It got Jackie curious, especially since Sunshine had strict rules about the piggy bank.

The lady watched Sunshine do what she was doing for a few more minutes before deciding that she needed to uncover why the little girl had chosen to take out her savings.

When she asked what she was doing with the money, Sunshine said she planned to take them to her school. However, upon further questioning, the little girl revealed the real reason behind her taking the money. She said:

"I'm going to take it for milk money. I'm taking it for my friend Layla. She doesn't get milk — her mom doesn't have milk money and I do."

The response melted her heart and, at the same time, caused it to sink with sadness for the girl her grandchild was talking about.

Jackie understood what Sunshine was trying to do, and because she never wanted to tell her she couldn't do something, she chose to let Sunshine do what she pleased.

They later went to the school together, and right before Jackie, Sunshine handed the $30 over to her teacher, Rita Hausher, from Birchview Elementary School.

Of all the 20 students in her class back then, only about half could afford to buy milk. A carton was worth $0.45, and it would have cost $180 per month for all the kids in the class to have milk they could drink during snack time. Jackie said at the time:

"Milk is important in our family, so it's very important for Sunshine's friends to have milk with her."

After she dropped her chivalrous granddaughter off at school, Jackie shared an emotional video on Facebook that saw her recount the details of what had transpired. The video quickly went viral.

Those who were moved by the story offered to help out by donating toward the cause, so Jackie started a GoFundMe page with hopes that she would be able to raise enough to help the kids get milk for the whole semester.

Imagine her surprise when she received over $5000 within a week. It meant that Sunshine's classmates could enjoy drinking milk for the remainder of the year.

Sunshine was the happiest girl on earth, and as soon as she could, she told her granny that her whole class, including her friend, Layla, had gotten milk. According to Jackie, the little girl did not see what a big deal her action was as she had only been trying to help her friends. Jackie said:

"She doesn't understand the impact she's made. But now she knows she can do whatever she puts her mind to."

In the post she shared on Facebook, Jackie expressed pride in her granddaughter's actions, glad that her Sunshine was pure in a world filled with so many negative emotions. She wrote:

"There is a ray of Sunshine with a HUGE heart that at the age of 5 LOVES everyone and always wants to help. THANK YOU, LORD, for such a beautiful little girl."

Sunshine may have an uneasy life ahead of her because of her troubled family background; however, everybody hopes that her big heart and kindness never get tainted. Here is proof that one good act can trigger a dozen others.

QUESTIONS TO PONDER:

How would you have responded in such a situation? Would you have stopped Sunshine from taking all her savings out to help a friend? Or would you have reacted the same Jackie did?