A teenage boy with autism and a love of peanut butter took it upon himself to help furloughed government workers, like his own father, get by during the government shutdown.
Eric “Bean” McKay of Virginia eats peanut butter with every meal. It's his favorite food. His mother explains that his very narrow diet is part of his autism. He eats half a jar every day.
But as his supply was running low and money got tight at home, he tweeted the company that makes his favorite peanut butter and asked if they could put the item on sale so that his mom could afford to replenish their supply.
The company responded and told him they would send him a year's supply for free if he got 72,000 re-tweets. He did, and the company made good on its promise.
The boy could have stashed away all of the jars for himself, but he had another idea. He loaded the jars onto a pallet at a nearby supermarket and offered three jars to any government employee affected by the shutdown.
His mother said, "He’s a good kid. He’s helping people in a real way. I’m so proud of my kid." (People)
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