7-year-old Tyler Stallings may not have superpowers, but in light of how many people he’s helped, he definitely deserves to wear a cape: the youngster has spent the last three years helping thousands of Maryland veterans.
He first became inspired to lend a helping hand when his mom Andrea taught him about about veteran homelessness in 2015.
“On a whim, I showed Tyler a video about the sacrifices that people make to serve our country,” says Andrea, who is from a family of veterans.
When she went on to say that their family was unable to build homes for the veterans who don’t have them, Tyler asked if he could simply give them everything else they might need.
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He began filling “Hero Bags” with clothes, shoes, snacks, toiletries, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, lotion, shaving gel, and hand sanitizer—and with his mom’s help, he was able to start handing them out to local vets at the Maryland Center for Veteran Education and Training (MCVET). But it didn’t end there.
“At first, it was hard for people to take a four-year-old seriously,” says Andrea. “It took me a while to find a shelter that would let him come in and help. But when shelters like MCVET finally did, they loved having him there. It’s nice to have a child in an environment like that. We would take them care packages with toiletries and grooming products to thank people for their service, and they would take whatever they needed.”
Over the course of the next three years, the youngster has given away over 2,000 Hero Bags and gift cards to homeless vets.
Additionally, he partnered with local mattress manufacturers to provide 250 mattress for the vets living at MCVET.
To date, the youngster has raised over $17,200 in GoFundMe donations for his mission. He one day hopes to raise use a portion of the donations to start his own nonprofit so he can help other kinds of homeless people as well – and his mother could not be any more proud of him.
“Recently, Tyler showed up to an event to thank a veteran who has suffered from 15 strokes. The look on the man’s face when Tyler handed him a Hero Bag… it was just amazing,” said Andrea. “Maybe no one has ever made these veterans feel like their contributions are significant. This is how we show them our appreciation.”
Be Sure And Share This Sweet Story Of Kindness With Your Friends – Photos by GoFundMe