Local Pleasant Hill Middle School students are making a difference.

After a recent fire that destroyed the Epworth Children’s Home maintenance and supply shed, Mary Ella Harvey, Kensleigh Spears, and Hannah Stewart decided to take action.

They started collecting donations within their neighborhood. Their goal was to collect at least 200 items. The girls set a collection schedule that coincided with the work day, staging 2-hour drive-by donation drops at 7:30 am and 5 pm each day.

But they didn’t stop there.

They hosted a bake sale and raised over $150 for the purchase of additional supplies.

In just 4 days, Harvey, Spears and Stewart collected over 1,000 urgently needed items for the children’s home.

“We’re honestly kind of shocked at how much we collected,” said Harvey. “When we decided to do this, we just hoped that a few people would donate things to help. We were so excited to see so many of our neighbors help us exceed our goal.”

The girls delivered the supplies to Epworth Children’s Home in Columbia June 9. Staff and volunteers were there to help them unload. “We had so many things to donate that it filled the entire SUV,” said Stewart.

“We had to ride in a separate car just to get there to unload it all!”