An 8-year-old Maryland boy has raised over $50,000 for homeless veterans
Eight-year-old Tyler Stallings has been on a mission to help homeless veterans since he was 4 years old.
Tyler’s mother, Andrea Blackstone, said when Tyler was 4 she wanted to teach him about the importance of veterans because there are several in their family. She turned to YouTube to show her son videos about veterans and the things they do for our country.
As Tyler was watched, he stumbled upon one about homeless veterans.
Blackstone said, “He saw videos of veterans holding signs to no one responding to their cry for help and he thought this isn’t right. He didn’t like it. He asked me, ‘If they’re heroes why should they be on the street?'”
The mother got Tyler in touch with Maryland’s Gov. Larry Hogan and with his help Tyler was given a kid’s grant of $100. With the help of the grant and a GoFundMe link Blackstone shared on Facebook, Tyler decided that once a year on Veteran’s Day, he would gather items like clothes and hygiene products to give homeless veterans care packages.
It went over so well that they decided just Veteran’s Day wouldn’t do.
Recently, he was able to partner with a mattress company that donated 250 mattresses and a backpack company that gifted Tyler backpacks to hold his “hero bag” products.
Tyler hopes to raise enough funds for a truck soon, so that he and his mother can use it deliver even more items to homeless veterans.