Little Miss Flint races to rebuild back-to-school drive after thieves (again) wipe out supplies
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Mari Copeny, aka Little Miss Flint, has been racing to save her annual back-to-school drive after her storage unit was ransacked.
After thieves broke into a storage unit in Michigan and destroyed whatever they didn’t take, Amariyanna “Mari” Copeny, also known as Little Miss Flint, is now 10 days away from a back-to-school event that aims to provide 500 children with supplies, with less than half currently sponsored.
The 19-year-old community activist revealed the devastating break-in in via social media posts on August 1 and has continued keeping her followers up to date as she works tirelessly to restore her supply in time for the event later this month.
“The good news…we got about 24 hours where we were able to get to the GoFundMe 1/3 of the way to goal,” she wrote in the caption of an Instagram post on Tuesday.
“The bad news…we have 11 days until my event and only have 185 kids sponsored so far. We have 300 more kids to sponsor for backpacks.”
She added, “We are so much closer than we were, but nowhere near where I was before the break-in.”
Her GoFundMe, which has received more than $6,000 in donations so far, is 45% of the way to its $15,000 goal as of publication.
Copeny first gained recognition as a child clean-water advocate in 2016 at the age of 8, when, using her newly awarded platform as Little Miss Flint, a title she won the year before, she wrote a letter to then-President Barack Obama about the Flint water crisis that she and other children in her community were experiencing.
Since then, she has continued to use her voice and platform to help her community, frequently hosting community drives, food banks and other events and giving away nearly $1 million in toys, more than 20,000 books, over 2,000 coats, hundreds of uniforms, bikes and more. Her back-to-school drive is now in its 11th year.
“Over the past 11 years, we have been able to distribute over 22,000 fully stuffed backpacks,” she shared on the GoFundMe page. “In addition to backpacks and supplies, we have been able to distribute hygiene kits, books, socks, underwear, sneakers, school uniforms, clothing, and so much more.”
She further shared that sending a child back to school can quickly add up for the average household. It can cost roughly $225 to purchase basic school supplies, not including new clothes, shoes or many of the other extras children may need. Once those are factored in, however, the total can climb anywhere from $500 to $800 or higher.
“That’s why it’s important to help get students ready for school beyond just backpacks and supplies,” Copeny said, adding, “Our event isn’t just a backpack giveaway; it’s an event for the entire family that aims to meet the needs of local kids heading back to school.”
This year, the focus is on supplying 500 backpacks filled with school supplies, 300 pairs of sneakers, more than 100 packs of socks, more than 100 packs of underwear, 100 menstrual health kits, hair accessories and additional hygiene items, including deodorant and body wash. Organizers are also looking for more partners in the Flint community to help provide services such as haircuts and hair braiding, along with food and other resources for families in need.
Since Copeny sounded the alarm, the community response has steadily grown. Several people commenting under her updates have questioned whether she should look further into why this keeps happening with her storage unit, as this isn’t the first time.
In January 2025, Copeny shared that thieves had broken into Team Mari’s storage unit and made off with much of what was inside.
“Not only did they steal thousands of dollars worth of toys, school supplies, coats, shoes, and other items, they also broke and destroyed almost everything else,” she wrote in a GoFundMe post at the time. “We have to almost completely start over for every single event. We have been working on our supply of items for close to 10 years now.”
When the advocate first shared that her storage unit had been broken into again this year, she did not mince words.
“I hope whoever it was that broke into my storage unit knows that you not only hurt me, but you hurt the hundreds of kids here that I serve year-round,” she wrote in a post on Facebook.
At the time of the break-in, she said they were nearly ready to go with backpacks and supplies and had begun gathering extra items for the kids, including shoes, underwear, hygiene products and more. The thieves even took the bunny head from a costume she had.
“You stole toys and bikes that we spent all year shopping for to prep for Christmas. You stole coats. And then to destroy what was left behind,” she added.
In a follow-up Instagram post that same day, Copeny said she couldn’t get over what had happened.
“I’ve been down over this for the past week,” she wrote. “But tomorrow I have to get started on my back-to-school event. I can’t let the evil person who did this win.”