Car quest puts boy on new road

What started as a modest attempt to raise money so a friend could buy a used car has turned into something much larger.

Kayzen Hunter of Little Rock is 8 years old and is a regular at the Waffle House on Stagecoach Road, where he is partial to the scrambled eggs and hash browns with cheese. Often serving Kayzen and his family is super-friendly server Devonte Gardner, and the two have become friends.

Not long ago Kayzen, a second-grader at Angie Grant Elementary in Benton, learned that Gardner was without a car and had been walking or catching rides to work. Even worse, a mold infestation had forced him to move his wife and two young daughters from their apartment and into a motel room.

Kayzen approached his mom, Vittoria Hunter, about finding a way to help. Unbeknownst to Gardner at the time, they set up a fundraiser at gofundme.com with a goal of $5,000.

“This is a really good guy,” Hunter says of Gardner, “and Kayzen kept saying that we need to do this for him.”

Gardner’s story also hit home for Hunter.

“We had an issue with black mold in a rental home we lived in in 2019. I got really sick and we lost all of our belongings. We have four kids and they lost all of their things.”

In less than a week, the campaign raised $610. And then, on Feb. 23, the story of the two friends aired on Little Rock TV station THV11. By the next morning, Hunter says, the figure had jumped to more than $5,000. Other reporters began calling, and not just from Arkansas. Gardner and Kayzen have been featured in the Washington Post, the Seattle Times, The Daily Mail in London, People and other outlets.

“When the Washington Post did the article, that’s when it blew up big time,” says Hunter. “This has gone global … the ‘Kelly Clarkson Show’ asked us to submit a two-minute video, and they’re going to fly us to California to be on the show.”

All of this attention has meant that the original goal of $5,000 has long since been surpassed. As of Friday afternoon, more than $67,000 had been raised from almost 2,000 donors. (We weren’t able to connect with Gardner before deadline on Friday).

Hunter says the experience has inspired Kayzen.

“One of his favorite people is [YouTube philanthropist] Mr. Beast. He said, ‘Mom, I could start a YouTube channel and give money away to people who need it.’”