An eight-year-old Arkansas boy raised over $30,000 for his favorite Waffle House waiter after learning the 29-year-old lost his home and was living in a motel with his family.
Vittoria Hunter and her family have a ritual of breakfast at their local Waffle House in Little Rock every weekend. For about a year, they have requested to sit in the section of the favorite waiter, Devonte Gardner is covering.
‘He’s the nicest person ever,’ said Hunter, 35.
Her son, Kayzen Hunter, 8, gets a high-five from Gardner when they walk in the door, and the two joke around a lot, she said. Washington Post reports.
Kayzen is always impressed when Gardner remembers his order, which is the same every weekend.
‘Devonte always treats everyone with kindness, and he always knows exactly what I want: hash browns with cheese and eggs with cheese,’ said Kayzen, who is in second grade.
During a Waffle House visit a few months ago with his grandfather, John Donofrio, Kayzen said he learned a little more information about Gardner’s life.
‘Devonte said he wondered if anyone might know where he could buy a cheap car — he’d been having a hard time saving for one,’ Kayzen said.
He and his grandfather learned that day that Gardner had been walking several miles a day to and from work and was living in a motel room with his wife and two daughters.
About eight months earlier, they had to move out of an apartment that was infested with rats and contaminated with black mold, Gardner said.
Kayzen, upset that his friend had fallen on hard times, went home and told his mom about Gardner’s situation.
‘He kept saying, “We have to start a GoFundMe and help Devonte get a car,’” Hunter recalled.
‘He didn’t give up on it. He’s a kid with a big heart.’
On February 8, Hunter said she agreed to help Kayzen set up a GoFundMe page, with the goal of raising $5,000 toward new wheels for Gardner.
When a local news station found out, donations began to pour in, and the fund quickly soared to more than $30,000 — enough for a car and to pay for an apartment for Gardner’s family for the next year, she said.
Gardner, 29, said he was stunned when he learned what his young customer had done.
‘I started crying — I’d been quietly struggling and didn’t want to ask anybody for anything,’ he said, explaining that he uses most of his tips to pay his family’s $60 per day motel bill.
His wife, Aissa Shorter, was recently hired at a local McDonald’s, and they work opposite shifts so they can care for their daughters, Jade, 3, and Amoura, 2, Gardner said.
