It can be expensive when you’re getting ready for school. Buying everything that you need or that is needed by your children can add up quickly. Quite simply, not every family is able to afford all of the pencils, pens, backpacks and other supplies so sometimes, it is necessary to improvise. Those school supplies are expensive but when you add in some of the extras, including shoes, winter coats and perhaps even earbuds, it can be overwhelming.
Javari realized that his family was going through tough times financially. He was getting ready to go to school that year but his mom needed to find a way to afford school supplies for him and for his three siblings. Schancy Armstrong, his mother, was struggling to get by and she just couldn’t afford all the supplies that her children needed. He knew that he had to do something to help so he came up with an idea.
Since he was aware of the financial situation of this family, he thought of a plan to go door-to-door in his hometown. It wasn’t to ask for a handout, he was going to wash people’s cars for $20 and he knew that if he worked hard enough, he could earn the money necessary to get his school supplies. He wasn’t only doing this for himself, he was doing it for his siblings as well.
When he went to the home of Jessica Detrick and Jonathan Haltam, however, things escalated quickly.
Jessica agreed to have her car washed but the reason why Javari was doing it touched her heart. She knew that $20 for washing the car wasn’t going to go far so as he was washing her car, she came up with a plan.
She shared her plan and what happened next on a Facebook post:
“This morning a boy knocked on my door asking to wash my car for $20. Instantly I said yes because I’m a sucker for kids. Jonathan Haltam and I proceeded to ask him what he was saving his money up for, he replied ‘school supplies and school clothes’ breaking our hearts into a million pieces we knew we wanted to do more for him…”
“The owner of my job, Jon Proechel, helped me get my shift covered for tonight and donated $100 towards helping Javari get school things! He is going into his freshman year of high school (we all know how nerve-racking that is.) he wants to be an engineer and he’s the second-oldest of four siblings.
When asked if there was anything specific he wanted, he replied a nice pair of shoes and a scientific calculator. We were able to get him a pair of tennis shoes, slides, a packet of socks, 2 binders, 8 packs of notebook paper, pencils, notebooks, a pencil pouch, a scientific calculator, and a book bag. I am happy, and I am blessed.”
Thanks to her kindness and the donation from her supervisor, Javari had what he needed for school. In fact, he had more than he had even hoped for. She then set up a fundraiser on Facebook and collected more than $4,400 to help his family.
Javari’s mother went to Facebook to thank everyone who had donated for their generosity:
“Thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart. I am the mother of these amazing children and I AM GRATEFUL GRATEFUL GRATEFUL.”
You can watch the moment they hand over the back-to-school supplies in this video: