Friendship is something we all need and desire. There’s nothing like having someone there for you that you know is there to listen, understand and love you.
When it comes to boosting community morale, Ty Burningham is an expert at it.
A social butterfly
According to his mom, he’s almost like the Mayor of Davis County, always out and about, meeting new people.
Ty, who has special needs, can often be seen scooting around his neighborhood. One group of teens from Davis High School noticed that their friend could do with a faster means of getting around.
They loved chatting with Ty and wanted to find a way to help him.
Ty turns 25
And then the perfect opportunity arose: Ty’s 25th birthday. Explaining the teens’ idea for Ty’s birthday present, one of the boys said:
“You know, just all of us combined, we just pitched in $10. It’s not that big, but Ty, we just love him.”
The perfect surprise
The cash pooled together by the school pupils was just enough to upgrade Ty’s scooter to one with more power.
When it came to the ultimate surprise, a few of the teens whipped out their phones to film what they knew would be a special moment.
Covering his eyes
With one teen covering Ty’s eyes, the group slowly led him over to the road, where his new scooter lay waiting.
After a countdown from three, the teen removed his hands, and Ty exclaimed,
“Oh, sweet.”
The perfect gift
Once the teens showed Ty how the scooter worked, explaining that the motor meant he didn’t have to push so much, he was off like a rocket.
Quaid Rasmussen, one of the boys involved in the surprise, said:
“We turned it on for him and he zipped up the street. We were worried he wasn’t going to come back!”
So happy
Apparently, Ty couldn’t stop saying “sweet”, and seemed the most impressed with how quickly the scooter could ride.
He seemed a little confused that he had been gifted the scooter, asking:
“You guys can’t take it – it’s mine now, right?”
Perhaps Ty wasn’t used to such generosity from his neighbors, as most of us aren’t.
If this story teaches us anything, it’s that being willing to help anyone, even the people outside your immediate social circle, is a great trait to have.
The teens who paid for Ty’s scooter managed to do so with the little means they had. They found a way to give thanks to the young man who gave them and their neighbors a reason to smile every day.
Gift-giving doesn’t just make the recipient happy, either.
Research has found that the act of giving a gift can promote a greater sense of happiness than when we spend money on ourselves.
Giving a gift releases endorphins, the happy hormone that we get after exercise, laying in the sun, or eating chocolate. And we could all do with a few more endorphins bouncing round our brains right now.
Ty’s friends had the right idea with their birthday surprise.
Their act of kindness for a member of their community would have made his day and made them feel good in themselves.
To watch the surprise unfold for yourself, click the video below.
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