WASHINGTON — A 12-year-old girl has collected drinking water for Puerto Rico residents as a birthday present to herself. And what the sixth grader from District Heights, Maryland, started has grown more successful than anticipated.
“I am donating 500 cases of water to help the victims of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria,” DaShai Morton said in a YouTube video. Her Project Give Back 500 ended up collecting 1,260 cases of water, toiletries and other supplies.
“I’m happy, because I can help other people,” she told WTOP on Friday as an 18-wheeler was being loaded with the supplies she collected.
“I hope they’ll be excited (receiving the donations) because I tried my best to help them.”
DaShai Morton is a straight-A student at North Forestville Elementary School in Prince George’s County, where she is also a cheerleader, performs dance, and plays basketball and tackle football, her mother said.
“It wasn’t surprising,” her mom, Shirlna Morton, said of her child’s latest endeavor. “This is nothing new for DaShai.”
“All I could do is say, ‘Wow!’ I shed tears of joy,” Shirlna Morton added. “I’m just so proud that it’s been a success with the help of plenty of family members, the Boys and Girls Club, Car Clubs, donations from the school, from my job — it’s just amazing.”
Shirlna Morton said there’s so much more her daughter could have asked for as a birthday present. “But, this is all she wanted.”
The Project Give Back 500 supplies will join a larger effort by the American Black Cross to help hurricane victims.
The American Black Cross partnered with Thomas and Thomas Trucking company to get the Project Give Back 500 supplies to Dallas so they can be forwarded to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, the mother said.
When DaShai Morton was asked about what she would like to do when she grows up, her immediate response: “An entrepreneur. Or either a basketball player.”
