A 5-year-old Alabama girl is setting really high standards on giving to the homeless and is being praised by social media for it.
Tynslee Bennet is spending her weekly allowance on “blessing bags” for the homeless in her town, and even goes to hand-distribute them on weekends.
Mom Haley Bennet says that her daughter’s passion for the homeless in her town of Florence, Alabama, began when one night they saw a man sleeping on a thrown-out mattress near a dumpster where her fiance worked.
“We cooked dinner, and we brought him a plate,” Bennet said. “My daughter was like, ‘Where is his house? What does he do if it rains? What does he do if it gets cold?'”
From that moment Tyslee Blue, 5, has been determined to help the homeless says her mother.
“She has an allowance, she cleans her room and helps me with chores, but instead of buying toys … we will go to the Dollar Tree, we will buy ponchos, umbrellas,” Bennet said.
She says they checked on what homeless people would require the most, and then filled up the “blessing bags,” or gallon-sized ziplocs, which contained everything from personal hygiene products to food.
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The mother and daughter would then go to their local park in downtown Florence, where homeless people gathered and distributed them.
They did their first drop a year ago with five bags, then the last weekend they did 20, and this coming weekend, they are aiming for 30.
Bennet is proud of her 5-year-old daughter’s compassion for the needy, rather than looking the other way.
“She acts like these people are no different to her, she will be like, ‘Hey, how are you doing, and god bless you,'” she said. “A normal 5-year-old ain’t going to try to help people, or walk up to a stranger and try to help people, or give them their juice or their water.”
Bennet said whenever they walk downtown and see a homeless person, and if Tynslee just has juice boxes, “She will ask, ‘Mama, can I give them my juices?”
Now Tynslee is “trying to get more people involved,” and also invites her friends to come to help the homeless people.
“She wants people to be aware that this is actually a problem in the city she lives,” Bennet added.
This little girl is such an inspiration for all of us who believe that it is turn our faces away whenever we see homeless people, and believe it is only the government’s role to help the homeless and do nothing ourselves about it.