“I was absolutely blown away,” said Sara Porter, 22. “I cried a lot.”

“It was just a great turn of events for them,” said Ann Marie Clark.

Clark is the coordinator of the Moorland Hills Elementary School Sparrow Club.

For the uninitiated, Sparrow Clubs are spreading through schools from the lowest grade levels to colleges. Essentially, schools adopt a “sparrow,” a youngster with medical problems and do what they can to help that youngster, and, of course, his or her family.

In the case of Kenmore’s Moorland Hills, their “sparrow” this year is Porter’s 17-month-old son, Shawn, who is fighting a rare form of cancer in his abdominal tissue. When his mom talked about being blown away, she was referring to an assembly at the school in September during which Moorland students had a chance to meet her and Shawn.

“The kids are just so incredible,” Porter said.

After that assembly, one student in particular became inspired to go all out to help Shawn and his mom. A sixth-grader, Madison Robbin, 12, came up with the idea of holding a benefit garage sale. She made a proposal to the principal and the school began collecting items for the sale in January.

The event is set for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 28, at the school, 15115 84th Ave., N.E.

Standing in a donated storage space nearly filled with sale items, Christi Robbin said that, of course, she is proud of her daughter.

“It’s like, ‘Yes, I’m doing it right,’” she said. “For me it meant a lot of extra work, but that’s OK.”

In addition to the garage sale, Moorland students have undertaken various community service projects. According to Clark, those projects have included anything from cutting lawns to household-type chores. The students turn in vouchers for the work, earning “sparrow” cash, turned into real cash by donors and sponsors. In this case, the program is run by the Deacon Charitable Foundation and its Seattle office.

Not incidentally, as of March 16, Moorland students had put in some 183 hours of service, presumably not including the work put toward the garage sale.

“They have their hearts in the right place,” Clark said.

A single mom and currently living with her son at the Ronald McDonald house in Seattle, Porter said she has saved some of the money donated to her and Shawn, but it’s also gone toward day-to-day expenses such as clothing, diapers and so on. Because of Shawn’s condition, Porter said she has not been able to work and the money certainly is more than welcome.

Porter said Shawn was 11 months old when his cancer was diagnosed.

“I can’t really express how it feels to be told your son has cancer,” Porter added. “It was just devastating … You have to live through it and take it day by day.”

In December, Shawn underwent successful surgery to remove the tumor in his abdomen. He’ll receive chemotherapy until July, when Porter hopes she and Shawn can go home to Camano Island.

“He’s just so full of life for all that he’s been through,” Robbin said of Shawn.

Items collected for the garage sale include everything from toys and bikes to clothes, housewares and sporting goods. Clark said about the only thing the school turned away was electronics as they didn’t want to deal with items that might not work.

For those wanting to help prior to the sale, there is one more donation day set for 3:25-4:15 p.m. March 25 at the school. The garage sale also will feature a bake sale.

Clark said this is the second consecutive year Moorland has sponsored a “sparrow,” with the focus of last year’s efforts being a local Kenmore child.

“It’s just a great experience for the kids,” she added. “It all just filters back to the community.”