As the school year neared, Mari "Little Miss Flint" Copeny embarked on a journey to raise money and gather school supplies for young students. Her journey kicked off with an Instagram post in late July.
"[For] many Flint parents, sending kids back to school is an expense they can not handle alone. I want to be able to help. But I need your help," Copeny wrote.
"Wishlist[s] are now live. Help me clear them to send Flint kids back to school. My fundraiser is also halfway to its goal."
Nearly two months later, Copeny teamed up with What's Up Downtown to host a three-hour back-to-school drive that brought in members from around the community. Through this event, she was able to distribute 1,000 backpacks, 10,000 pencils and 2,000 notebooks. She also set up a COVID-19 vaccination site and brought out food trucks.
“It’s important because every single Flint kid -- and every kid -- deserves to have a backpack to go back to school,” Copeny said.
Having already put together one successful back-to-school drive, Copeny is already looking towards the future. She is planning a second back-to-school drive later this month.
"We have backpacks still coming in and right now have about 150 that we need to finish filling for another event in under 2 weeks. Y'all know I can't leave any kid behind," Copeny tweeted on Tuesday.
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