The following is via ABC News:
What would you do if you got $25,000 for your bar mitzvah? One teen bought shoes, but they weren’t for him.
He bought 800 pairs of sneakers – enough to outfit an entire elementary school, which is exactly what he did when he decided he wanted to use all his Bar Mitzvah money to buy the world some kicks.
Drew Frank, 13, recently had his bar mitzvah. In lieu of gifts, he asked for cash donations.
When Drew tallied up all of his gifts, he had $25,000. He didn’t keep any of that money for himself. Instead, he donated it to a charity to give away shoes. A lot of shoes.
In collaboration with the Braden Aboud Foundation, he purchased 800 pairs of Nikes and 800 pairs of socks.
Over 400 pairs of those shoes were donated to a public elementary school in a lower-income neighborhood. The other shoes will go to a local orphanage and a YWCA transitional living center for women and children.
While most boys keep their bar mitzvah gifts for themselves, Drew is happy he was able to share his.
(Source: ABC News)
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8 Responses
nebach. if not to poor Israeli children at LEAST to YMHA
Re comment no. 1: What do the rabbis, and the Torah, tell us about telling other people how to spend their money and give tzedukah? This is not a rhetorical question. I would like to hear whether or not “zalman” is poking his nose where it does not belong.
And when a 13-year-old gives away money, even to the “wrong” people, but people who nevertheless need his help, praise is more appropriate than second-guessing his donation.
nebach. had he had any real ingenuity instead of being a knee jerk liberal, he could have found some way to start or invest in a business that benefits the people in these areas.
hello, even ancient Chinese knew, buy a man sneakers, he happy now. teach him how to get skills to earn money for future sneakers, clothe him for a lifetime.
I take it all back. the kid is just a product of his parents. let’s vote to take away all of their ‘extra’ money and give it as short term commodity items to the unlucky.
kol hakavod
No good deed goes unpunished…..
Wow! 250000! when I was a kid and was bar mitzvad, I actually got a set of wooden pencils with my name on them, that was it!
Of course that was right after WWII and time have changed.
What a great kiddush Hashem and fulfillment of the takono of chazal to give tzedakah to goyim.
Nebach! What a wonderful selfless Kiddush Hashem An act of Tikun Olam