An 11-year-old known as “Sam the Bottle Man” is making a difference for sick children in need one nickel at a time.
Sam, along with his friends, have been collecting bottles and cans throughout the year so they can buy Christmas presents with the money from the collected cans.
Those presents are then donated to kids at Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital in Maine, WGME reported.
Sam raised $20,000 this year and used $10,000 of the money on gifts at a Target in South Portland.
“It was hard,” Sam said. “Took a long time, but it’s so much fun and knowing it’s going to the hospital, it’s a good feeling.”
Sam has a personal motivation to give to those kids in need, after having an experience where he himself had to spend time at the hospital several years ago.
“It doesn’t get any better than this,” Sam’s father Brandon Rideout said. “Having a kid that wants to give back like that, to see the effort he’s put in, and all the kids have put in, it’s just amazing.”
Kids like Sam have started can collections to raise money to buy stuff for people in need. Recently, a nine-year-old started a can collection to help buy bicycles for those who could not afford them.
Other kids have organized donations in other ways, such as one nine-year-old who threw a birthday party and asked that all toys be donated to Toys for Tots.