A teen cried tears of happiness when his family, who were struggling financially, surprised him with his first-ever car, thanks to the help of kindhearted social media users.
Aiden Channell, 16, is the oldest of six kids, and with a passion for skateboarding, he often travels 40 minutes from his home near DeKalb, Illinois, to skate.
With a large family, Aiden’s mom, Sara, 35, said she could see the benefit to everyone if Aiden had his own car – but she was also understanding of the financial realities.
Having had a “tough year,” Sara admitted she wasn’t expecting to be able to buy Aiden his first car for his 16th birthday, which the teenager had come to terms with, too.
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But to start the new year, Sara posted on social media, about how she was amazed by a story of 70,000 social media users each giving someone $6 to buy a house.
To Sara’s surprise, her post took off and soon received more than half a million views – and donations shortly followed.
Within 24 hours, Sara had received $1600 from social media users sympathetic to their journey as a family, which was enough to help cover the down payment on a used vehicle.
While Aiden was visiting his dad, Sara and Aiden’s stepdad, Shannon, spent the day looking for a used vehicle, settling on a 2009 Subaru Forester.
When Sara then picked Aiden up in the evening on January 4, she said they needed to swing by a local dealership in Newark, Illinois, so they could check out a side job Shannon had been considering.
As Aiden walked around the forecourt, though, Sara instead handed her son the keys to his first car, which caused the teenager to freeze in shock before fighting back tears of happiness.
Sara said: “When we went to pick Aiden up that evening, we drove to the dealership and pretended my husband had to take a look at a side job there, and he asked my son for help.
“He got out of the car and that’s when we handed him the keys and asked him if he wanted to see his new car.
“It was probably the best moment I’ve ever felt seeing him realize he actually was getting what he had been dreaming about.
“My husband was also so incredibly happy to see his reaction.
“In the video, the first thing he does before he even goes to the car is to hug us both.
The response from everyone has been widely happy.
“There were many comments on the video about ‘needing it for their soul.’
“The video just shows a truly great kid being genuinely thankful.
“So many people have commented on how they love the video.”
