17-Year-Old With Rare Condition Performs Acts Of Kindness To Raise Money To Help Disadvantaged Kids

A young lad from Staffordshire who was disappointed not to be in contact with his friends during lockdown decided to raise a bit of cash by performing some pretty incredible acts of kindness.

Those acts included - but aren't limited to - feeding around 600 people by collecting pumpkins left over from Halloween, giving out hundreds of packets of Nice biscuits to people so that they would 'have a nice day' and buying extra lottery tickets and scratch cards to give to random strangers at the shops.

Now, after recognition from the royal family and the Prime Minister, 17-year-old Sebbie Hall wants to raise £10,000 ($13,000) ahead of World Kindness Day this Friday (13 November).

The money will provide communication aids and access to the arts for disabled and disadvantaged children struggling with loneliness during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The teenager has set up a JustGiving page to help him reach that goal, and has already started distributing some of his cash to worthy causes close to his heart.

Sebbie was diagnosed with a rare chromosome anomaly as a baby, and is one of only around 50 people in the world with his condition.

When the first lockdown hit, he was disappointed not to be in regular contact with one of his mates because they didn't own a mobile phone or tablet.

So, after he offered to simply buy one himself out of his savings, his mum convinced him to start raising money for loads of people, and he decided to do it just by being nice.

Sebbie started by agreeing to do one hundred acts of kindness in 10 days, but has since developed a taste for it, and has now raised over £5,000 ($6,600).

That's more than halfway to his goal.

His mum Ashley told LADbible: "It has made him realise how it makes other people feel when you're nice to them.

"Basically, all of his life people have done things for him, and suddenly because he decided he was going to help other people and do things for them, he carried on and now he's done about 400 [acts of kindness]."

As we've mentioned, Sebbie has performed a wide variety of acts, but his mum reckons that his distribution of Nice biscuits - often to key workers and emergency services - has been particularly impactful.

She told us: "The Nice biscuits have made so many people smile. He's used his money and his savings, and what he wants to do is use it to raise this money.

"He's distributed probably about 600 packets with stickers saying 'have a nice day' on them and given them to random strangers.

"People are so happy when they get a packet of biscuits, it's ridiculous."

As for feeding the homeless, that idea came when Sebbie realised the leftover pumpkins from Halloween would only go to waste

Ashley explained: "We rang around a load of the soup kitchens, who are seeing double or triple the amount of people at the minute because some are closing.

"He collected [the pumpkins] on Sunday, drove all around Lichfield and Staffordshire getting them, and then on Monday morning before school delivered them to soup kitchens who prepped them for that day.

"We know that we fed 600 people last week, because they've got back in touch. But also we've saved them from going in the bin. So, that's been a real highlight."

So far, Sebbie's efforts have seen him gain recognition from the Lord Lieutenancy of Staffordshire - a representative of Buckingham Palace - and an award from the Prime Minister, but the most important thing for him would be to reach his £10,000 target by this Friday.

Whether he manages that or not, his mum is rightly proud.

She said: "It's making him more independent, it's doing so much for him.

"The minute you do something for somebody else, it makes you feel good.

"It's been incredible because when he does it, he is so proud of himself, and that's what makes me proud, because we're pleased for him, and because he's proud of himself.

"When you struggle with disability, he can't go and climb the mountain, he can't he come first in the running race or anything like that."

"He's always watched other mainstream kids doing other things that he can't do - he only learned to ride a bike this year, and he's 17 - but he's never bothered about it, he's always happy to watch somebody else doing something.

"Now, being kind to people is something he can do.

"I'm so pleased for him that it's given him a sense of community, a sense of thinking 'I'm going to get up in the morning, and I'm going to make a difference'."

If you want to help Sebbie to reach his goal, you can donate to his fundraising page right here.

World Kindness Day is this Friday, so get involved!