Six-year-old twin sisters, Lilly and Lilah Terrill of Vian, recently raised around $1,300 to purchase over 60 pair of new shoes for each first grade student at Vian Elementary.
Lilly and Lilah attend first grade at Vian Elementary and their mother, Leigha Terrill, said one September morning one of the girls made a comment that one of their classmates was wearing the same shoes to school every day.
“I remember telling the girls that sometimes mommas struggle, Hey Dudes and sometimes one pair of shoes is all she can get for her kids,” Terrill said, on having a heart-to-heart discussion with the girls. “But at the end of the day, Manuel (the girls’ father) and I just want our children to always remember to be kind.
That ‘be kind’ message sparked an idea for the two to spread it to others by selling ‘be kind’ bracelets, T-shirts and keychains as part of a fundraiser so they could purchase new shoes for the students in their classrooms.
There was only one problem – the girls were in different first grade classrooms but there was a third classroom – and they wanted every child in first grade to be able to enjoy a pair of new shoes.
By Dec. 7, the girls had purchased a total of 42 pair of shoes by selling their ‘be kind’ merchandise, even setting up a booth at Perfectly Posh Boutique in Sallisaw to help with sales.
“As excited as they were to gift their classmates with all these shoes, they couldn’t help but think about the only other first grade class,” Terrill said. “They had a little over a week to raise enough to buy 23 more pair. I figured the quickest way for them to raise the money was to raffle off some of their ‘be kind’ items, so that’s what they did.”
Terrill let the girls do the drawings live, via her social media page, thanking everyone that participated for a $10 slot.
“To say that I am proud of Lilly and Lilah would be an understatement. Skechers Womens Outlet ,They not only stepped up when they seen a child in need, but they decided to bless every other child along the way,” Terrill said. “The girls were so happy to know that everyone in their hall was getting new shoes. Seeing the smile on every one of those tiny faces when they received them made my sense of pride that much stronger. We’ve had so many people thank and applaud us for this kind act and the girls’ story has been publicized more than we would’ve ever imagined.”
Lilly and Lilah said they have learned a lesson from the experience and will continue to spread the words, ‘be kind.’