Donovan Smith - Life ExamplesLife Examples
A formerly homeless teen entrepreneur has closed his designer bath products business in order to focus entirely on making and donating soaps to people with nowhere to live.

Donovan Smith, 13, plans to make 600 soaps per month in order to give back to the shelters that helped him and his mom during a time when they would have been out on the streets.

“People helped us and now I want to help others,” Donovan tells PEOPLE. “It’s my way of saying thank you.”

Donovan and his mom, Casey Smith, fell onto hard times three years ago when Casey, a Navy veteran with a service-connected disability, couldn’t find work, and lost her housing in Georgia.

The mother and son retreated to increasingly bleak refuge, and wound up living in a garage.

“Things got worse,” Casey says. “We had no electricity. No hot water. I had to sell my car to buy food.”

Casey worked with the Veterans Administration to find shelter, but spaces for a woman and a child were at a premium, and were difficult to find.

Finally, a space came open at the Henderson House shelter for female veterans in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Casey and Donovan boarded a bus and moved west.

The mother-son pair lived at the shelter for six months, until they found an apartment.

There, Casey homeschooled her young son.

Bright and inquisitive, Donovan relishes the schooling.

“I love English, reading, and art,” Donovan says.

He also likes crafts. So Casey taught him to make old-fashioned soap. Donovan dove in with enthusiasm.

“Early in the morning, I’d hear the microwave going,” Casey laughs. “He had soaps laid out on the tables, and all his molds and ingredients. He was so busy.”

Donovan began producing soaps – both scented and unscented – formed into shapes ranging from realistic donuts, pies, hamburgers and ice cream cones to busts of Darth Vader – as well as traditional blocks.

Word spread and neighbors began buying the soaps. Before long, Donovan turned his hobby into a business, Toil and Trouble Bath, and ran his own booth at a local crafts market.

His business thriving, Donovan could not forget how he and his mother were able to recoup their lives.

“Being homeless makes you different,” Donovan says. “It’s not easy. I wanted to make things better for people in the shelters.”

At first, Donovan donated a portion of his profits to Henderson House, where he and Casey found their bearings. 

He also gave 310 soaps to the annual Project Stand Down & Hands Up, for Albuquerque veterans.

But the young soap maker still felt that he wasn’t doing enough.

“I kept wanting to do more,” Donovan says. “People need help.”

He served meals in a number of local shelters. Using his own money, he donated blankets, toothbrushes, combs, and diapers to the Supportive Housing Coalition of New Mexico.

In 2015, Donovan supported St. Martins Hospitality Center by serving 800 meals to homeless clients and donating 185 Mylar blankets, 432 toothbrushes, 480 combs and cases of diapers and feminine hygiene products.

Donovan kept asking what the shelters needed. The answer consistently came back: soap.

“I donated 30 to 50 soaps a day,” Donovan says.

The need continued. It became overwhelming.

“It got to be too much for him to run his business and donate the soap they needed,” Casey says. “Based on the need, he would have to make 150 soaps a week.”

Rather than curtail his philanthropic efforts, Donovan shut down the business end of Toil and Trouble so he would have time to make and distribute the soap donations.

He set a goal of donating at least 7,200 soaps this year – a rate of 600 or more per month.

The company that built Henderson House is grateful for Donovan’s efforts.

“JB Henderson is honored to have been a small part of Donovan’s story,” spokeswoman Melissa Gomez tells PEOPLE. 

“Our employees enjoy following Donovan’s story and seeing the positive impact he continues to make in our community – he is an inspiration to all of us.”

Others are inspired, as well. In April, Richard Berry, the mayor of Albuquerque, gave Donovan a Good Samaritan Award, and invited him to serve on the city’s Youth Advisory Council.

“As the mayor, I frequently tell our city s youth that they are never too young to be leaders,” says Berry, who notes that “Donovan is a shining example of this at just 13 years old. 

His compassion, leadership, and selfless ambitions are what made him an obvious choice as a City of Albuquerque Good Samaritan.”

Donovan’s mom set up a GoFundMe page to help Donovan cover the costs of his soap donations.

The young humanitarian remains focused on his mission.

“I’m really happy that I’m helping,” Donovan says. “I hope I make a difference in peoples’ lives.”

No comments:

Post a Comment

Tags

1961) is a singer and a Catholic church volunteer Scottish was released on 11 April 2009 (1) 1990 in Minnesota (USA) with a strange "anomaly" known as Policefalia (Polycephaly) (1) 2.007 (1) A few years ago so discovered that internet bullies cruelly voted her the "ugliest on the Internet (1) A formerly homeless teen has closed his designer bath products business in order to focus entirely on making and donating soaps to people with nowhere to live. (1) A Nigerian woman of 19 years old (1) Abandoned in an orphanage at the age of three (1) Abigail and Brittany Hensel twins Life examples (1) Adora became an object of national interest at the age of 7 when she appeared with Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America (1) Adora Svitak (1) Aimee Mullins (1) Aisha Mohammadzai (Bibi Aisha) (1) Aisha's father promised her to a Taliban fighter when she was 12 years old (1) Alexander Zanardi (1) Aliki Chrysochou (1) amazing (3) and at age 12 (1) and he fell into a severe depression (1) and he's the armless Romanian drummer who has been taking the world (1) and many risky things to do his work (1) and of working with her village elders to build a school for girls (1) and the first elected in a fully representative (1) April 1 (1) as a result (1) Between 1.963 and 1.980 Mrs. Feil developed Validation as a response to her dissatisfaction with traditional methods (1) Born around 1.975 in a nomad camp between Timbuktu and Gao (in the north of Mali ) (1) Born in Tennessee in 1.873 (1) Born with severe physical deformities caused by the drug thalidomide which was prescribed to her mother during pregnancy (1) but her will to live overcame all the difficulties that this "injustice" create with her (1) called congenitalgenu recurvatum (1) Choi claims that he ran away from the institution when he was 5 years old (1) Classically trained violinist and songwriter Gaelynn Lea has been bewitching scores of fans with her experimental and ambient takes on fiddle music (1) Cornel Hrisca Munn (1) disability (4) Donovan Smith (1) Each time one of his bones breaks (1) Ella Harper (1) Emmanuel Kelly (1) Emmanuel Kelly is a 17-year-old Iraqi young man who dreams of turning into a star of the music (1) examples (4) great people (4) had both of her legs amputated below the knee when she was one year old (1) Hamato then taught himself to hit the ball by holding the paddle in his mouth (1) has a message for those who believe that life expired. (1) he began painting with his feet (1) He gave an upbeat lecture titled "The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" on September 18 (1) he has attracted widespread praise for his return to competition in the aftermath of a crash in 2001 (1) he is the eldest in a family of thirteen children (1) he need to use a hammer (1) He received the Branson Entertainment Award for Best New Artist in 1.999 (1) He was the first black South African to hold the office (1) His job is juts amazing cause he need to use power with his legs (1) his lack of limbs made him a target for school bullies (1) His name is Cornel Hrisca-Munn (1) However (2) Huang Guofu (1) Ibrahim Hamato (1) incredible (4) is a Pakistani school pupil and education activist from the town of Mingora in the Swat District of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. (1) It is not about beeing a religious person (1) it is only about having the feeling that you are able to help others (1) it's like a sword has pierced his body. (1) Jeremy Lim (1) Jessica Cox (1) Just a few years ago Aliki Chrysochou lost her coordination and her ability to speak and move when she was diagnosed with neurological disease focal encephalitis (1) Kakenya Ntaiya (1) Life examples (34) Lizzie Velasquez (1) Malala Yousafzai (1) More recently (1) Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1) Moussa Ag Assarid (1) Mullins was born with fibular hemimelia (missing fibula bones) and (1) multiracial election (1) n a practice known as baad (1) Naomi Feil (1) Narayanan Krishnan (1) Narayanan Krishnan was on his way to be an award-winning chef at a 5-star restaurant in Switzerland. (1) Nelson Mandela (1) Nick Vujicic (1) Ntaiya tells the fearless story of continuing on to college (1) Phan Thi Kim Phuc (1) Qian Hongyan (1) Qian Hongyan at age 3 had a car accident and lost both legs (1) Rahama Haruna (1) Randy Pausch (1) Sarah Bartman (1) Scotland (1) Sentayehu Teshale (1) she was born with an orthopedic condition that caused her knees to bend backwards (1) She was born without arms due to a rare birth defect (1) special humands (1) special humans (3) Sung Bong Choi (1) Susan Boyle (1) Susan Boyle Magdalane (West Lothian (1) Team Hoyt strives to help those who are physically disabled become active members of the community (1) That didn’t stop him from following his dreams (1) That terrified little girl is still alive today and has become an eloquent testimony to the authenticity of that photo (1) the "Inspirational Hero Award (1) The Hottentot Venus (1) The story of Rick and Dick Hoyt (1) The sweet and peaceful character of Joi Joi-South African to receive amicably led the Boers (farmers) installed (1) The twins Abigail and Brittany Hensel (1) Thomas Quasthoff (1) Tony Meléndez (1) unbelievable (6) With a degree in hand and future in sight (1)