Will Minnesotans Be Inspired by This Act of Kindness?

“Paying It Forward” has become a very popular thing to do. Buying someone a cup of coffee or paying for someone's food in a drive-thru is common, so common that we don’t always hear about them anymore. 

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Occasionally someone on Facebook or some other social media platform will acknowledge that someone showed them generosity and they want to Thank them.  

I came across this story over the weekend from Missouri, where an 11-year-old boy there set out to raise money to pay off his classmate's lunch debts.  

Once word got out that Daken Kramer was trying to help, donations started pouring in, not just from around their community, but around the country.  

Daken’s Mom said they first started out just wanting to raise $200, but with all the publicity, money continued to reach new heights. The boy made a bigger impact than he thought when he first began this undertaking. 

Once it was all said and done, Daken had raised over $7,300. He paid off all the school lunch debt in his school and then with the money that was left over, he paid off the debts that were on the books at the high school there too.  

The families of the students who had their lunch debt paid were moved by the boys' actions and sent messages to him to express their gratitude.  

The school also wanted to make sure that Daken was recognized for his kindness, they named a Legacy Award named after him that will be given out at the end of the year. There will be a plaque that hangs in the front of the school displaying the names of the past winners on it.  

Daken is transitioning to Middle School from Elementary School and isn’t sure if he will continue fundraising for lunch debt relief or not, but with this idea he just wanted to help.

I’d say that Daken accomplished that, and then some.  

No matter where you are, there are always opportunities for us to make an impact on our communities, we just have to notice the things happening around us.