Teenager Shares Epic $1300 Back To School Shop!

A teenager’s back to school haul has gone viral for a beautifully heartwarming reason! Sam’s mum Tanya, shared photos of the five full Kmart trolleys on Facebook explaining why they spent so much.

13 year old Sam does a big Kids4Kids School Supply Drive fundraiser every year to help children in need. Beginning when he was just eight years old, Sam donates school supplies to tens of thousands of kids in need in his local area.

“With our beautiful community’s help, he’s given 75,000 school supplies and this year hoping to reach 100,000,” Tanya explained.

“He gets no funding, it’s all community’s help and this money was from him selling his own made Dog Photography Calendars.”

“I walked into Sam’s room when he was eight years old and found him emptying out his piggy bank to buy a food hamper for someone in need at Christmas,” she said to 7 News.com.

“He met family and the boys were sleeping on the floor and had no Christmas presents. Sam got them food, we bought them some presents and other things.

The school supplies haul started when Sam had leftovers from his own shop and suggested they donate them to kids in need.

“It all started from there and honestly Sam and I never thought it would grow into what it is today.”

Tanya proudly said that Sam also fundraises for the homeless, animal shelters and other causes, and spends all of his Christmas school holidays organising his back-to-school fundraiser.

“Sam supplies to about 10 different schools in our area,” Tanya explained. “We give the supplies to the chaplains in our communities so we know it goes to the families in need.

“One chaplain told us that there are 50 kids who go without on the first day of school. And for so many different reasons – illness, fathers losing jobs, various needs, one mum had breast cancer. Another chaplain says it gives the kids a sense of belonging to have their own kits at school, so it’s important for these kids.”

Sam and Tanya estimate they have 20,000 school supplies to hand out to kids heading back to school later this week.

“This Friday is our sort day where we count it all up and then give to chaplains to hand out,” said Tanya. “The lady at the Kmart checkout was so wonderful putting it all through,” she added.

When asked why he first started fundraising, Sam says it all came about after a family member fell ill.

“When I was eight I found out that my grandad had cancer so I started making calendars,” he told 7 News.com.

“All the money would go to the Starlight Children’s Foundation and it just grew from there, I started doing other types of fundraisers.”

To find out more about Sam’s fundraising check out his Facebook page here.

Images: Facebook