This 7-year-old girl, Cavanaugh Bell, is only a bit taller than the tires of the 53-foot semitrailer he and his mother filled with pounds and pounds of supplies.
Although the boy seems tiny when he stands next to the towering truck, it was his idea to pack it with things that people in need would benefit from.
This truck drove more than 1500 miles away from their home in Maryland. This was the boy’s mission since the beginning of the pandemic.
He Decided to Channel His Anger & Help Others
After he struggled with bullying, the boy said he felt some kind of darkness inside of him; he knew that he wouldn’t like other children to experience what he did.
Children called Cavanaugh weird in preschool and he abruptly stopped eating. When he confided in his mother, she learned that he was being bullied.
After he came up with the idea to help eople, he asked his mother to help him on his journey of spreading positivity and love.
Bell explained that the more he gave back to his people, the more desire grew in him to keep on doing this. The boy who lives with his mom, aunt, and cousins in Gaithersburg wanted to help the community in the suburb of Maryland.
He made care packages consisting of toiletries and groceries for the elderly people. He paid for them using his birthday and Christmas savings.
Eventually, with people donating on his GoFundMe page, he managed to open up a food pantry in a nearby warehouse offered to him and his mother by a logistics company.
Cavanaugh’s Story Goes Viral, more Donations Come through
After his story became more and more popular, the boy has been praised by people like Kamala Harris, the VP-to-be.
She featured the boy on her show on YouTube, Kids with Kamala, back in May. The boy asked her questions, like what she wants to do when the pandemic ends.
With his successful food pantry, the boy, during the summer, decided to spread his efforts.
He wanted to help to the community in Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. This is the home to some of the poorest people in the country.
In fact, 50 percent of the population there lives below the federal poverty line. Some assessments also placed the rate to be higher than 90 percent.
He was inspired to help this community after a road trip he took with his mother in Mount Rushmore, two years ago, and they drove through the reservation.
His mother, Llacey Simmons who’s 35, explains how her son’s eyes were glued to the windows the entire drive. She explained to him that the people who live there don’t have the needed things to survive, including running water or electricity in some parts.
Through donations, they filled a whole truck with supplies worth around $20,000. They hired a driver to transport the goods too. They informed the director of a non-for-profit First Families Now of the reservation, Alice Phelps, who was amazed.
She explains she grew up there and has seen the needs and struggles of these people firsthand. With winter approaching, the boy also asked people to donate jackets, blankets, and other winter supplies.
They responded and the boy and mother filled up another semitrailer for the reservation, worth around $25,000 and sent it off in September.
Sources: