A story of a teenager from Buffalo, New York went viral after he decided to clean up his town’s streets that had been dirtied due to the ongoing protests.
Protests began after the unexplainable death of George Floyd at the hands of one very callous Minneapolis police officer, and America is still reeling from this grievous act. Aside from Floyd’s hometown, cities all throughout America have had citizens come up in mostly peaceful arms as they band together to call for change and reform to laws that allow law enforcers to put suspects in chokeholds, and other dangerous acts.
Unfortunately, some of those protests ended up as riots, creating tons of dirt and debris that littered many of the roads the protestors walked on. When 18-year old Antonio Gwynn Jr. noticed all the trash left behind on the streets of his hometown in Buffalo, he decided to do something about it rather than wait around for others to clean it up. And he decided to do it all by himself too.
The high school student told CNN that he noticed Bailey Avenue was severely damaged. There was tons of glass and other debris that was caused by a number of violent clashes that had occurred on Sunday, June 7, between local residents and the Buffalo police. And what prompted him to start cleaning was knowing that employees were going to need to get to work the next morning, and that couldn’t happen if the streets were full of wreckage and rubble.
It 2 a.m. when he decided to grab his broom, some trash bags, and start voluntarily cleaning up the street all on his own. For the next 10 hours, Gwynn worked to sweep up the mess. When other locals came out to start cleaning up the next morning, they saw that it was already done for them.
After his wonderful deed was shared on 7 Eyewitness News, 27-year old netizen Matt Block noticed Gwynn’s story. He began to do some research on the teen and saw that Gwynn had been asking for some brand-new car advice on Facebook. Block then decided to give the young boy his 2004 Ford Mustang convertible, a decision that would prove to be serendipitous as well.
Block told wkbw.com, “I couldn’t come to grips with selling it and this was a good way for me to get rid of it and know someone that gets it is going to appreciate it.”
Incredibly, Gwynn’s own mother who had passed back in 2018 had given him the same car before. According to the teenager, “The car he sent me a picture of was the exact same car that my mom first got me. It’s the same color, same everything.” Gwynn was so surprised by the coincidence that “he didn’t have words” and even Block shared that he got “goosebumps.”
Meanwhile, the story of Block’s gift to Gwynn also became big news, and another local decided to help out the boy as well. Businessman Bob Briceland thought that with a new car, he would need insurance as well, so he decided to give Gwynn a full year of insurance from his own insurance agency for free. Briceland explained, “I just felt compelled to help him out. We just need to get together our whole city and show people how there’s so many good people here.”
Already amazed at the fortuitous gifts, Gwynn couldn’t have known that there were still more things that were going to come his way. The soon-to-be college student had been planning to go to trade school while saving up for college, but when Medaille College heard about what he had done, they decided to give him a full ride scholarship to their school. When Gwynn found out, he shared that he “literally stopped, pulled over, and started crying. So did my great aunt. My little cousin did also.”
Gwynn’s plan is to study business with mechanics on the side when school begins in the fall. He also revealed that he hopes to begin his very own cleaning business once he’s done with college. He shared, “I always wanted to be someone to help everyone with their car problems. This is a great opportunity I have right in front of me.”
He also gave thanks to the whole community by saying, “I appreciate everything everyone is doing for me.”
Although this is the first time that Gwynn’s charitable works have actually made headlines, he has been doing community service through the Kappa Phi, as well as regularly volunteering at his local church. He deserves all the happiness he can get!
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