Young Trick-or-Treater Sees Empty Halloween Candy Bowl and Refills It with Sweets from His Own Bag
A little boy from Maryland is being praised for his kind actions after he willingly refilled one homeowner’s Halloween candy bowl with treats from his own bag to ensure that other kids didn’t go home empty-handed.
Leslie Hodges wanted to take her 3-year-old daughter trick-or-treating on Thursday and her husband Kevin was working, so the Gambrills, MD mom left a big bowl of candy on a table near her front door and the pair headed out, The Washington Post reports.
While they were gone, Kevin, who works as a Prince George’s County firefighter, kept a watchful eye on their home and its visitors through their Nest security camera footage — but there one was trick-or-treater who stood out among the rest.
“[He said], ‘You won’t believe this,'” Leslie recalled to The Washington Post of her husband’s reaction after seeing the video.
In Nest video footage that Leslie eventually posted to her Facebook, a little boy — later identified by the Post as Jackson Champagne — arrives at the Hodges’ home only to find an empty candy bowl outside.
After peering inside the bowl and realizing that he — and the rest of the neighborhood kids — wouldn’t be able to help themselves to some treats, Jackson quietly says, “All gone” and then shouts to his family, “There is no more candy!”
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But it’s what Jackson did in the moments that followed that has warmed the hearts of the Hodges and people around the country.
The 8-year-old boy then leans down into his own Halloween bag and adorably pulls out several handfuls of candy to refill the bowl, so that the next trick-or-treater didn’t leave empty-handed.
“Aww, that was really nice, Jackson!” a woman, who the Post identified as his aunt, says in the video.
“There you go!” Jackson proudly exclaims after refilling the bowl.
The video has since been viewed over 10 million times and shared more than 356,000 times, with many Facebook users praising Jackson for his selfless and kind actions.
Leslie was one of those people, captioning the clip, “Caught this on our Nest camera…. this has got to give hope to everyone that there are still amazing people in this world. What a selfless act from this little guy! ❤️ Kudos to his parents!!! #imnotcrying”
She also told the Post that Jackson’s sweet gesture “renewed the faith that there are still some good people out there.”
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After the video went viral, Leslie and Kevin were contacted by Jackson’s father Ty Champagne.
The Hodges asked if they could give Jackson more candy so he would “know how much he touched everyone,” but when his parents declined the offer, they asked if they could instead reward him with a gift card to his favorite store, according to The Washington Post.
The Hodges are now planning to meet with the Champagnes this weekend to personally deliver a Target gift card to Jackson and thank him for his good deed.
And while everyone has been amazed at how generous the little boy was, his father Ty says his actions are nothing out of the ordinary.
“That’s the type of kid Jackson is. He’s always giving,” Ty, 27, told the Post, adding that when he asked his son why he refilled the candy bowl, he simply responded, “For the kids after me.”
“He’s a very sweet, kind and soft-spoken kid,” Ty added. “I’ve never seen a moment where he acts out negatively toward humanity.”
