11-year-old Kayden Mount of Rome Georgia lost his mother recently. Shannon died without any life insurance and with very little money to begin with. Kayden was an only child without a father and the state moved him to live with his Aunt. Kayden was very concerned that his mom wasn't going to get a funeral or a headstone because no one had any money.
Kayden came up with the idea to sell hot dogs to raise the money. Last weekend he held up a sign advertising his hot dog sale with sign that said Please Help Bury My Mama. Someone took a picture of that and posted it to social media. That went viral. Soon people from all over the country began donating directly to the funeral home to cover Shannon's burial expenses. Once the funeral costs were met, additional donations were made to an online fundraiser to support Kayden. In a short period, the fundraiser blew way past its goal of raising $71-hundred, with more than 18-hundred people donating almost 80-thousand!
His Aunt tells 11 Alive that the money "will be used so Kayden can do activities at school that he used to miss out on and wear some decent clothes and then when he gets older we can pay for vocational school or maybe even college".
Kayden wanted to say thank you to his community for the support so he ran a "Free Hot Dog's" promotion this week to thank the people who not only gave his mother a proper burial but have changed his life.
Photo: Thelma Lanteigne / EyeEm / EyeEm / Getty Images