Amazing Kids: Wyatt
When he was nine, Wyatt read “A Long Walk to Water” with his mom Melody. At this young age, he learned about the poor conditions for people in South Sudan. He wanted to get involved “with something big” and started a fundraiser to support clean water.
He began by writing a proposal and took it to his teacher and principal, but the school was already in the middle of a fundraiser and couldn’t take on another. It was his first “no.”
Immediately, Wyatt’s parents stepped in and offered to help. He made an informational flyer for sharing with family members and neighbors. He went door-to-door to mostly strangers asking for donations. It took five separate trips to make it through their neighborhood of 100 houses, skipping homes with “no solicitation” signs. Each trip was about an hour long.
Wyatt’s fundraising video
Wyatt and his flyer for neighborhood fundraising
“I was really nervous. I handed them the flyer, told them my name and age, and shared about my fundraiser and what WFSS does. The people at the first house donated. It made it a little easier to go to the next house,” Wyatt shared.
He didn’t stop with neighborhood canvassing. A community-wide garage sale led Wyatt’s family to ask a neighbor to use his yard for a fundraising stand since his yard was more visible from the road. Wyatt sold water, displayed information about WFSS, and asked for donations. That same neighbor invited Wyatt to his church, where he held another stand.
Wyatt and his younger brother (age 7) also hosted an online stream for a few weeks. The streamed videos contained images and statistics about South Sudan to raise awareness, educate about the need, and inspire donations.
He even wrote letters to his friends, doctor, dentist, and orthodontist asking for support.
Above all his hard work, Wyatt even donated some of his chore allowance. His family has a unique way of distributing the allowance. One dollar is placed in each of three jars: the give jar, the spend jar, and the save jar. Any remaining allowance can be used for anything the kids would like. Wyatt donated his extra money. Altogether, he raised $5,000 to support clean water in South Sudan.
Wyatt’s advice for people who want to fundraise? “Start by asking for help. Go to your school or your parents. Then, you can do a lot of different things to fundraise.”
His favorite free time activities are Legos, video games, and reading. Fiction, fantasy specifically, is Wyatt’s favorite type of book. He has a long list of series he’s already finished at the age of 10 and received many reading awards. The most impressive? The award he received for reading 3,000,000 words in third grade.
"We are so proud of Wyatt's heart and desire to do something big and help others and his determination to reach his final goal. It took over seven months, and there were several times we went to Wyatt saying, 'You've worked so hard, and you've raised a lot of money to help others. Even if you want to stop here, you have done great things. Do you still want to keep going?' And his answer every time: yes. Even when it was boring or hard, or he'd rather be doing something fun-his desire to reach his goal was bigger.
I was also so impressed by all the people who so willingly gave not only their money but their encouragement. People were genuinely impressed at a young man actively giving his time for a cause. At no point did his dad or I do the fundraising for him. Wyatt was always the one doing the asking. I think that also impressed people as well. I was truly blessed by being able to watch friends, family, neighbors, and strangers connect with him and go out of their way to support him. I truly think that any kid willing to go out and do the asking will find a multitude of adults who will want to support and encourage them in reaching their goal." -Melody, Wyatt’s mom
We are so impressed by this young man and all he’s done to provide clean water. Thank you to Wyatt, his family, and his community for supporting WFSS! You are watering the seeds of change in South Sudan.
Donate to Wyatt’s fundraising page.
