Bullied Kid Goes Viral For Knocking On His Neighbor's Door Asking For New Friends, GoFundMe Raises $40,000 Instead
SOURCE: Neighbors have helped raise more than $37,000 for a bullied Texas boy who went viral after a heart-wrenching video showed him knocking on their door and asking if they knew any kids his age because he “needs some friends really bad.”
In the clip, seen more than 61 million times on TikTok in just three days, Shayden Walker, wearing a “Jaws” T-shirt, shuffles nervously on the front steps of his neighbor’s home in Amarillo.
“What’s up, man?” answers Brennan Ray, who posted the video from his doorbell camera.
“Hi. I just wanted to see if you knew any kids around like, 11 or 12, maybe, because I need some friends. Like, really bad,” Walker says, looking at the ground.
Ray points the boy toward a house down the street where a few kids live.
“Well, umm, they’re not my friends anymore because they’re bullies to me,” Walker says.
I'm at a crossroads with this story that has been going dumb viral today. I was on the "this may be scripted" train until I saw another post of the kid attempting to come talk to that same house like 30 minutes earlier before backing out. Real enough for me but we have to break this one down.
On one hand, shoutout to the nice neighbor who clearly was doing the right thing in talking to this kid who just wanted some new friends. On the other, what exactly are we expecting him to do with $37,000? American culture where we just solve everything by donating to a GoFundMe is so wild sometimes. I get it in tons of instances, but this kid came to the door talking about how he's getting bullied and they decided let's just get his money up? Now bro is going to have 40 bands and no homies. Or he's rich and now he's surrounded by fake friends who are using him to buy them some new Fortnite skins or whatever kids these days are buying.
It's always heartwarming to get some sad stories like this viral that help uplift humanity for even just a brief moment, so regardless there's no real losers here. Hopefully this kid uses his new found wealth to take a trip to the amusement park or do something cool and his parents aren't just gonna collect it to pay their mortgage. Let the kid cook. Keep the Jaws shirt though because that's a compliment getter for sure. Plus, the video has 65 million views and there's no way we don't get this little fella some quality friends now. I guess there's nothing left to say but congratulations to little Timmy on his new found bands? The internet man. Nothing like it.