LOUISVILLE, Ky. — On Monday, for the second year in a row, each student at Engelhard Elementary in Louisville was given a free set of pajamas, toys, and snacks. Prior to the giveaway, kids were also treated to a dance party.
The pj giveaway came to be after Jefferson County Public School bus driver Larry Farrish went above and beyond last February. Farrish noticed one of his students was upset because they didn’t have any pj’s for his school’s pajama day.
“And if it was one of my students, i would give the world. And he didn’t have pajamas which is something small that can be overlooked,” Farrish said.
Farrish rushed to the store, bought two sets of sleep ware, and made sure Levi Carrier wasn’t left out of the fun that day.
New York based charity EJ’s PJs caught wind of the story, and provided each child at the school with pajamas last May. They returned for year two this week.
“Him doing that one random act of kindness wound up going global, all the way to Long Island, New York where everybody sent me the story saying, hey look one pair of pajamas does make a difference,” Patricia Poggi, the organization’s founder said.
“It gives you goosebumps to see these kids so happy and involved in something that they would of never expected,” Farrish said.
Since his story went viral last year, Farrish has started his own nonprofit called Bus Driver Blessingz, which helped make this giveaway possible. He said the hope is to do a third pj giveaway next year.
This year, EJ’s PJs distributed over 400 pairs of pajamas in Louisville. The organization expanded its giveaway to two JCPS schools this year, Engelhard and Young elementary.
