December is definitely the time of Christmas spirit and with that comes a wave of random acts of kindness. People are often much nicer and willing to be giving than any time of the year and while it might seem like an expected occurance, thankfully it still keeps surprising us. That's definitely what Erika Mills experienced while volunteering with Santa’s Secret Shop at a local school.
The mother of 4 noticed one high school senior extending his helping hand past what was expected and allowing children choose gifts that were out of their budget. The woman reported her experience on Facebook and praised the mysterious young man that was later identified as Timmy Sweeney.
This young man's random act of kindness earned him high praises from one mother
In her Facebook message, Erika detailed the situation:
"Today I volunteered to help with Santa’s Secret Shop at the school. Each child gets paired up with a helper, mostly high school seniors. There was one guy amongst the girls this afternoon and when he was helping a child at my table the kid was a little short in cash for what they wanted so this senior opens up his wallet. I assume it’s his little brother or a cousin or something and didn’t think much of it."
"Today I volunteered to help with Santa’s Secret Shop at the school. Each child gets paired up with a helper, mostly high school seniors. There was one guy amongst the girls this afternoon and when he was helping a child at my table the kid was a little short in cash for what they wanted so this senior opens up his wallet. I assume it’s his little brother or a cousin or something and didn’t think much of it."
She continued her story, detailing Tim's acts of kindness and her own surprise to what took place:
"But a few minutes later the same thing happens and so I asked him if he knew the kid. “Nope.” This teenager was just quietly helping kids with their Christmas lists for their families. The kids didn’t even know! But I wanted to post here because it was just so kind I swear our school has the BEST kids!"
"But a few minutes later the same thing happens and so I asked him if he knew the kid. “Nope.” This teenager was just quietly helping kids with their Christmas lists for their families. The kids didn’t even know! But I wanted to post here because it was just so kind I swear our school has the BEST kids!"
We've reached out to Timmy to get his side of things and the young man responded. "I’m a senior at Susquehanna Community High School, I used to be very athletic until I was in an accident and I can’t play anymore," Timmy told Bored Panda. "I have 2 sisters and 2 foster siblings that got placed with me and my parents."
He explained the situation in-depth, elaborating on why so many children needed his help:
"I was helping the kids pick stuff out for their families and themselves around the tables and most of them didn’t bring much money in to buy the things they needed. They had separate tables where if the kids had any extra money they could go over and buy themselves a cheap toy or whatever they had there. That’s the table that all the kids looked forward going to so when I got done checking them out they all wanted to run right over there and see what they had, and they liked what but didn’t have enough to buy them so I gave them a couple dollars and bought them 1 or 2 of the toys they liked so they could get what they wanted."
As for how people reacted to his actions? " Every response I seen online was very good, they were all saying I was a great person and how there needs to be more people like me in the world bc I’m so kind hearted," Timmy revealed. "They were saying my parents should be proud because they raised such a good kid that was helping out and being so kind."
Now that's definitely something to praise and we're glad to see people offer a helping hand for those in need, especially children. That's definitely a way to turn Christmas into a truly magical experience for the little ones.
Here's how people on the internet responded to the story
