Memphis teenager Chauncy Black was just looking for some money to buy donuts when he asked Matt White if he could carry his bags to his car. But White went above and beyond that, raising $324,000 for the teen and his disabled mother via a crowdfunding campaign that’s gone viral.
White took Black on a mini-shopping spree inside the grocery store and learned that he’s trying to care for his disabled mother and start his own business.
“Chauncy lives in Memphis with his disabled mother. He is a straight-A student who is doing his best to make it in a world with no money and very few resources,” White explained on the campaign page. “He wants to work and help his mother financially. He wants to become a successful business owner and offer jobs and opportunities to others in his community. What so many can take for granted, he wants. He wants food, he wants a bed, he wants to work and he wants a chance.”
Though the campaign’s initial goal was to raise enough money to buy Chauncy a push lawnmower, an ID and other essentials, the outsized response and massive influx of donations led to the family being able to move into a new house.
White told ABC News that he didn’t want any credit for the rapid positive changes in the life of Black and his mother, noting that it was the city of Memphis that came together to provide for the 10th grader and his family.
“I live to fulfill God’s heart and God has a heart for the fatherless and for the needy,” White said. “The focus of this is not me and what I did, because I really didn’t do anything. I just captured a story and put it online, but our community, Memphis, picked up this family and put them on a platform.”
(Via ABC News)
