8-Year-Old Sold Handmade Key Chains to Pay Off His Entire School’s Lunch Debt

Keoni Ching, of Vancouver, Washington, just wanted to make a significant contribution to “Kindness Week” at his school Benjamin Franklin Elementary. Inspired by San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman, who donated over $27,000 last year to cover students’ lunch debt, Ching decided that he wanted to extend that type of kindness to his own classmates by selling custom key chains because, as he told CNN, “I love key chains. They look good on my backpack.”

With the help of his parents, April and Barry, and grandparents, Ching sold more than 300 key chains to people all over the United States interested in purchasing one of his handmade creations. 

“We have sent key chains to Alaska, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Arizona, all over the country,” April said. “There was one lady who said she wanted $100 worth of key chains so that she could just hand them out to people. … There were several people who bought one key chain and gave (Keoni) a hundred bucks. It was absolutely amazing how much support the community showed for his whole project.” 

Ching gave Benjamin Franklin a check last week for $4,015, which was so generous that most of the money will be put towards helping resolve the lunch debts of six other nearby schools. Only $1,000 of that entire amount is being used by his own school.