A teenager has proved that a little kindness can go a long way after recording something unexpected that happened during her walk to school.
On December 11, Evie Doogan, 13, shared a TikTok video that has amassed more than 3.1 million views and over 745,000 likes. The footage shows a senior woman standing at the bottom of a road holding a Christmas gift bag.
The onscreen text reads that, for the past three months, Doogan and her friends have been waving at a senior woman who lives in a nearby retirement home. And with Christmas approaching, the lady wanted to treat them to chocolate, so she waited for the girls for 20 minutes in the rain to give them their gifts. The end clip is a close-up of Evie’s face, with a tear trickling down her cheek. She wrote: “I’m sobbing.”
Since then, Doogan’s older brother Lewis, 19, from Walsall, in the U.K., has helped the teenager set up a GoFundMe page for Maureen and her retirement-home friends; it has received $1,100 (£882). Lewis spoke to Newsweek on the behalf of his sister whom he couldn’t be more proud of.
He said: “Evie and her friends have been waving to Maureen, who is in her 80s, every day, and she has opened the window a few times to speak to them. She told my sister that seeing the girls is the highlight of her day.
“Our nan is a similar age to Maureen, so I think Evie wants to make her feel like someone is there for her. Amazingly, Maureen had gone out of her way to get the girls some chocolates as she struggles with mobility, so it means a lot,” added Lewis.
The schoolgirls were keen to repay the favor so they set up a fundraiser with the hopes of raising £50 [$63]. To their surprise, kind strangers have exceeded their expectations and now they are going to give half of the money to Age UK, a charity that helps people over 60. The rest of the money will be spent on Christmas treats for Maureen and her friends in the assisted-living facility.
The U.K.-based charity has recently revealed that 2.3 million older people wish they had someone to spend time with at Christmas, and 1.6 million find Christmas Day to be the hardest day of the year.
Unfortunately, loneliness is a problem in the United States, too. The National Poll on Healthy Aging reported 1 in 3 adults aged 50 to 80 felt a lack of companionship. The poll conducted by the University of Michigan also found that 77 percent of 2,563 participants who felt a lack of companionship reported fair or poor mental health.
Feeling isolated from others some of the time or often in the past year was more common for those who reported fair or poor mental health
Meanwhile, Lewis added: “I am immensely proud of my sister. I didn’t do stuff like that when I was 13.
“I think what she has done is amazing and quite inspirational. I want to get on board and help her as much as I can.
“The fundraiser isn’t to make money. It is to raise awareness of old people and loneliness. We are going to donate and help other people who are in the same position as Maureen,” Lewis said.
So far, the clip has amassed almost 5,000 comments. One comment, with over 104,000 likes, read: “If you look for it, i got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around.”
One user posted: “Gonna cry you have to get her flowers.”
“Coming from someone who works in care home, she needed someone to buy a present for, they barely ever get visits, they’re so full of love as well,” wrote another.
Have you had a Christmas dilemma? Let us know via life@newsweek.com. We can ask experts for advice on relationships, family, friends, money, and work, and your story could be featured on Newsweek‘s “What Should I Do? section.
Related Articles
2023 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
This story was originally published December 12, 2023, 7:33 AM.
source: star-telegram
