One boy in Gainesville, Virginia, has improved the lives of hundreds of school kids in Flint, Michigan.
Isiah Britt, 7, raised over $10,000 to buy hand sanitizer for elementary schools in Flint, where children were afraid to wash their hands with tap water, The Detroit News reports.
When Isiah’s mom, Danielle Britt, 29, and her fiancé, Kensley Dougan, 32, told him about the Flint water crisis over dinner early this month -- like most -- the situation blew little Isiah’s mind. Kids his age in Flint weren’t able to drink their city’s water when they were thirsty. He immediately felt compelled to help.
Originally, the family wanted send bottled water over to Eisenhower Elementary in Flint, but decided to give the school a call first.
“Eisenhower Elementary asked us, ‘Is it OK if you guys can get us hand sanitizer?’ And we said, ‘Sure!’” Isiah told ABC 12.
The school’s secretary, Lisa Palermo, explained to Isiah that students were afraid to wash their hands due to the lead in the water.
According to The Washington Post, Isiah then asked Palermo how many classrooms would need hand sanitizer and for how many kids. Isiah and his parents did the math -- they would need about $500 for dispensers and refills for offices, hallways, classrooms and bathrooms. Isiah promised Palermo he would get her what she needed.
Isiah’s parents helped him set up a GoFundMe page to raise $500 on Feb. 5, and two days later, he had reached his goal. He mailed his first shipment of sanitizer to Eisenhower Elementary soon after.
“His voice, his demeanor, everything about him touched my heart,” Palermo told The Washington Post. “I’ve worked with the district over 20 years and I’ve never, the words don’t explain it, he touched my heart to no end.”
After reaching his initial goal, the boy, who loves doing karate kicks and spontaneously dancing according to The Detroit News, decided to set his goal a little higher.
“Now I am going to try to send some boxes to another school too!” he wrote on his GoFundMe page. “There are a lot of kids who need clean hands!”
He raised his fundraising goal again. Then again, eventually settling on $10,000 -- enough money to send hand sanitizer to every school in Flint.
As of Feb. 16, Isiah met that goal -- and then some. The page is now knocking at almost $11,000.
This is a good thing, because for Isiah’s family, the selflessness isn’t going to end there, either.
"So right now we have enough for all 12 schools out in Flint. Once that's fulfilled, the next step is daycares or women's shelters,” Dougan told ABC.
The best part for Isiah and his family, however, is hearing back from the kids he’s helped in Flint.
"I think he's pretty nice and stuff. He's giving us hand sanitizer and we didn't do nothing for him,” Logan Anderson, a fifth- grader at Eisenhower, told ABC.
But young Isiah was just happy to lend a helping hand, telling ABC:
“It doesn't matter if you're small, it doesn't mean you can't do big things.”
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