The average five year old with a birthday coming up is likely to be making their wish list of presents filled with the hottest toys, but one five year old had something else in mind.
Tyler Sliz (of Libertyville, Illinois) created a video for guests attending his birthday party and made the kind-hearted request for people to stock him full of bedding, to help his effort to donating to Sleep In Heavenly Peace — an organization that builds, assembles and delivers beds to children in need.
Just in case any of the party goers decided to bring a toy or something other than bedding for Tyler, the five year old assured them he would NOT be playing with it.
Bedding only.
People leaned into Tyler’s desire to help others and came with bags full of blankets, pillows and sheets. Some guests still wanted to do something for Tyler, so they just gave him money to go buy things he wanted for himself.
Tyler, of course, used the monetary gifts to purchase more bedding.
Tyler and his family first learned about the organization the helps kids in need of bedding through church, and the young man with a big heart wanted to help build beds, but his age didn’t allow it.
So Tyler helped the only way he knew how . . . to gather and donate bedding.
His mom, Jackie, shares, “[Building beds] was something Tyler was wanting to do because he really likes carpentry work and working on projects with his dad . . . But to build the beds, you have to be 12 years old.”
Tyler’s birthday ask may have started among friends and family, but it sure caught the attention of Illinois Rep. Mary Edly-Allen. Representative Edly-Allen sent Tyler a check, which he promptly used to buy more bedding to be donating.
He had an initial goal to donate 100 pieces of bedding . . . but, since his birthday in October, Tyler has donated more than 125 pieces of bedding to the organization, and that count keeps rising as more donations and checks keep rolling in to help . . . and he’s not stopping anytime soon.
Check out some photos of Tyler and his good work HERE.
The co-president of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, Dan Harris, even says, “[Tyler] is just a ray of joy . . . Everybody in the chapter loves hearing about Tyler and seeing him drop off the bedding.”
(MSN)
