A 7-year-old boy in North Carolina is helping stop the spread of the coronavirus one step at a time.
Steven Burgess, an elementary school student in Wilmington, North Carolina, is using his time social distancing to run for 6 hours in his backyard, raising money for local hospitals to treat patients during the coronavirus pandemic.
“It started out again as just something fun to do, and then I saw that he was pretty serious about it,” the boy’s mother, Eliza Burgess, told a local news outlet. “I decided, well, let’s share this to uplift some people, I just — I’ve been blown away at the amount of people that have wanted to donate.”
Steven Burgess, whose school closed several weeks ago, said he simply wanted to help his community during difficult times. “I just wanted to raise money for the hospitals and [the charity] Vigilant Hope,” he said.
Burgess’s mother said her son’s actions can inspire others to help their communities in unique ways. “I think this has inspired people to show them what they can do,” Eliza Burgess said, “I think the reason this inspired so much support is that people really do want to plug in, and they want to encourage each other and we want to help, and sometimes we don’t know what to do because we are all stuck at home.”
After running 6 hours, and taking 37,000 steps in total, Burgess was able to raise approximately $1,500 for hospitals. According to the 7-year-old, the daunting task became possible with a little faith. “I just had faith in me and believed that I could do it,” he said.
According to WWAY news, those who wish to contribute can send donations to [email protected] or directly to Vigilant Hope, Meals for Heroes, and Nourish NC.
