ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Teachers at Lakeview Fundamental in St. Petersburg gave students a project: do something to make the world a better place.
Brayden Fawcett, a 4th grader from Pinellas Park, chose to help foster kids by raising money to buy them desperately-needed clothes. It is one of the basics so many of us take for granted.
"When people come into foster care, they usually have nothing with them," said Brayden Fawcett.
Not even underwear or socks. So, he set a goal to raise $100 and buy 50 pairs of socks and 50 pairs of underwear for foster kids.
"$100 would have been a big project for us," said Elizabeth Joyce, a gifted teacher at Lakeview Fundamental. "And he went way beyond that."
"I think we raised $200 in a day. And then the next day it just kept going," Brayden said.
Brayden's mom, Jennifer, feels proud and humbled knowing her son raised a total of $1,270.
"When you have a good heart and you get behind a good cause and start doing good things I think people will rally around you," said Josh Talkington, with Eckerd Connects.
The donations are going to Rooms of Hope. They are small stores throughout the Tampa Bay area where foster kids can pick out few personal items.
Brayden said they drove around to several different stores to find socks and underwear, because they didn't want to leave the shelves empty for other customers.
They purchased more than 1,300 pairs of underwear and socks, well beyond their goal.
"We had four big red bags and we probably have about six smaller bags at home as well," said Jennifer. "It's the life we've chosen and I feel like it's been very rewarding on so many levels. To see something like this where he gets to choose a project that he cares really deeply about and he chooses to help kids in foster care."
Brayden's been around foster kids his whole life. His parents opened their home to more than a dozen children since he was born. His mother says it is always difficult seeing those kids leave and believes Brayden now feels a sense of loss.
"I think he sees things that we don't as adults don't and that's been really interesting, we've actually learned from him," said Joyce.
