9-Year-Old Raising Funds To Deliver Sleeping Bags To Homeless

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The season of giving is upon us, and no one in Birmingham knows that better than 9-year-old Ethan Hill of Birmingham. The Phillips Academy student is in his third year of raising money to supply Birmingham's homeless with sleeping bags.

A press release from Mayor Randall Woodfin's office said Ethan got the idea to help the homeless during his morning rides to school. Every day, he noticed a man living under a bridge. He asked his parents if there was anything they could to help the man. Once the family discussed the man and his situation, Ethan got to work, at the age of 7, doing online research on what the homeless community needed.

Ethan asked his parents if they could buy orange Home Depot buckets and supplies for the homeless. And in 2018 when he was 8 years old, Ethan bought 50 sleeping bags for the homeless in Birmingham.

"So many people are sleeping on the ground or they are on mattresses with nothing to cover them up. They just have the clothes on their backs," Ethan saidin the release. “So, (my parents and I) tried to figure out something that they could help them stay warm and that they could take with them."

This year, Ethan said he wants to make sure more people get help, which is why he has set his goal of buying 100 $10 sleeping bags from Academy Sports. His uncle set up a fundraiser on Facebook for him in October, and Ethan said the response has been good. He said he’s close to reaching his sleeping bag goal but is still in need of items for his care packages. He plans to distribute them on Sunday, Dec. 22 in Linn Park.

Academy Sports + Outdoors is opening its Trussville store early Wednesday morning for Ethan, who will be given a $1,000 gift card to shop the store for sleeping bags, gloves, cold weather socks, hand warmers and more, which will be given to the homeless over the holidays.

"Servant leadership has long been a guiding principle of my administration," Woodfin said. "When I look at Ethan, the great work he’s already done and his willing spirit to do even more, I can truly say that he’s the epitome of servant leadership. In this season of giving, it’s a model example for all of us. I’m so proud of what he’s accomplished."