Patti Schneider Crockett/FacebookAn autistic teenager has spent nearly a year collecting thousands of crayons and colouring books to donate to sick children in hospital.
15-year-old Carter Crockett, a first year student at Millville High School near Philadelphia, has donated 15,000 crayons and 1,500 colouring books to help children with cancer at St. Jude’s research hospital in Memphis, a place that treats children at no cost to the families.
Carter came up with the idea of helping the children while eating dinner one day at a restaurant that was raising funds for the same hospital.
Posted by Patti Schneider Crockett on Thursday, 1 June 2017
Carter spoke of the reasoning behind his idea in a video posted on Facebook by his mother Patti Crockett.
He said:
I want to bring colour back into the kids’ lives, at St. Judes, and make them feel better.
They have cancer and they are away from their homes and families.
In the video he also called for others to join him and donate whatever they can before thanking people for helping him ‘make his dream come true’.
On June 30, after a long road trip across America, Carter, his mother Patti and two friends personally delivered the items to the hospital and filmed it live on Facebook.
#chilislove. #thepowerofCarter
Posted by Patti Schneider Crockett on Friday, 30 June 2017
In the video you can see Carter receiving high fives from the cheering crowds that greeted him and hear how proud his mum was.
Patti told Fox News:
The fact that he was feeling compassion toward other people is huge because that’s not something that autistic kids have – that’s really hard for them to do.
I feel truly blessed that he did this. He did this all on his own.
What a real hero Carter is!
