“Have there been times in the past twelve months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?” In North Carolina, one in five households answered yes to this question.
It’s worrying statistics like these that drives little William Winslow’s ambitious plan to end hunger in his community. Last year alone, he collected more than 1,400 pounds of food and more than $300 in donations, Raleigh news station WRAL reports. Even more incredibly is the fact that William is nowhere near his goal. The eight-year-old boy hopes to raise five times that amount this year, plus he’s planning a state-wide food drive next year.
“It just makes me feel bad when I hear that kids in my class are hungry,” he told the television station.
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William recently held his second annual food drive for BackPack Buddies, a food shuttle program that provides healthy meals to low-income families on the weekend.
The young go-getter even approached a local grocery store to ask if he could take food donations in the store’s parking lot, William’s dad, Mac Winslow, recalled to WRAL. “He looked at the store manager and said, ‘Come on, man. Think win-win.’ He said, ‘You get the money and I get the food for BackPack Buddies and we both win.”
We all know that hunger isn’t just a problem in North Carolina. In fact, one in six people — including one in five children — face hunger every day. No one deserves to go hungry, and it takes big hearts like William Winslow’s to make a difference.
“We’re just absolutely blown away by him, impressed by him,” his mother, Blythe Clifford, said. “His ability to empathize with his peers is just really incredible.”