Everything $1, Or Pay With Your Heart. 8 Year-Old Raising Money For Homeless Kids With Kool Aid Stand

November 7, 2013

Some kids are born athletes. Others excel at art or science. Jaxon Evans has the compassion gene.

The 8-year-old Bakersfield, California, resident has opened a Kool-Aid stand to raise money to buy toys he plans to give out to homeless children. So far, Jaxon has raised $1,600 and is aiming to raise $2,500 before Black Friday, when he and his mom, Alandra Evans, 39, will hit Toys R Us. (Their local store has even offered them a 10 percent discount.)

"He has compassion for others," Alandra tells Yahoo Shine of her son, who got the idea thanks to a fellow student who ran a lemonade stand for charity. "It's cool to aid kids," Jaxon says. 

Alandra Evans, who teaches eighth grade at Sequoia Middle School in Bakersfield, supplied the Kool-Aid and Jaxon enlisted two friends to help set up. He even made up fliers to give out at school, while his mom posted messages to friends and family members on Facebook.

"Everything $1. Or pay with your heart," read the sign next to donated baked goods and hand-mixed punch. That first fundraiser, held in late September, raised $400. Then word got out on the local news. When people heard the effort was for charity, "that $1 turned into $10," according to Alandra.
 
With two sales down, Kraft has sent the budding philanthropist enough Kool-Aid to cover his next two fundraisers, which will be held this month.

Last week, Jaxon and his mom visited the Bakersfield Homeless Center – which mostly serves women and children and feeds up to 500 people a day – to meet some of the kids who will benefit. After speaking with officials about the center's needs, the Evans family added nonperishable food and baby products to their shopping list.

Those toys Jaxon wants to buy? "Yes, it absolutely makes a difference," Carolann Wooton, external affairs manager for the center, tells Yahoo Shine. She said that the center depends on individual donors for 25 percent of its funding. Jaxon's good deed will be well received. "It's good for our kids," she adds.

While Jaxon would prefer to distribute the toys wearing a Santa suit, Alandra isn't completely on board with that idea. But she does know that her son's heart is in the right place.

Positive News Source: Yahoo News | Photo: Alandra Evans