KUALA LUMPUR, March 3 — An eight-year-old boy has won social media praises after he helped to raise nearly US$50,000 (RM223,800) for a waiter facing financial difficulties.
Kayzen Hunter first learned of Devonte Gardner’s problems months ago and set out to help him.
“Devonte said he wondered if anyone might know where he could buy a cheap car — he’d been having a hard time saving for one,” Washington Post quoted Kayzen as saying.
He and his grandfather John Donofrio also learned that Gardner had been walking several kilometres a day to and from work.
He was also living in a motel room with his wife and two daughters after they had to move out of an apartment that was infested with rats and contaminated with black mould.
Kayzen then went home to tell his mother Vittoria about Gardner’s problems and pestered her to help set up a Go Fund Me page to help the 29-year-old get a car.
“He didn’t give up on it. He’s a kid with a big heart,” she said.
Vittoria finally set up the page on February 18 with an initial target of US$5,000 (RM22.380).
But when the local news station found out, donations began to pour in, and the fund quickly soared to more than US$30,000 — enough for a car and to pay for an apartment for Gardner’s family for the next year, she said.
Gardner, who works at Waffle House in Little Rock, Arkansas, said he was stunned when he learned what his young customer had done.
“I started crying — I’d been quietly struggling and didn’t want to ask anybody for anything,” he said, explaining that he uses most of his tips to pay his family’s US$60 (RM268.56) per day motel bill.
His wife, Aissa Shorter, was recently hired at a local McDonald’s, and they work opposite shifts so they can care for their daughters, Jade, three, and Amoura, two, Gardner said.
Donors were touched by Kayzen’s concern for Gardner and his family.
“This is the definition of community,” one person wrote on the GoFundMe page.
“You’ll be a leader, no doubt, Kayzen.”
Kayzen said he was surprised and excited that so many people wanted to help Gardner.
“Devonte is a positive person who works hard to make everyone happy,” Kayzen said. “Sometimes people just need a little help.”
Gardner said he plans to move his family into a one-bedroom apartment later this month and go shopping for a car.