An 8-year-old boy is honoring his late brother, who would have started kindergarten this week.
Greyson Brooks, a third grader, recently delivered $350 worth of supplies to Estes Elementary School in Owensboro, Kentucky. He asked that the crayons, markers and writing paper be used by incoming kindergartners because that’s the class his brother, Wyatt, would have been in.
“He doesn’t want Wyatt to be forgotten,” Greyson and Wyatt’s mom, Destiny Hayes, told TODAY Parents.
Wyatt died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) at 4 months old in 2017. Hayes said Greyson started carrying a framed photo of Wyatt after he passed away.
“Greyson was 3 at the time and he was always asking where Wyatt was and when he was coming back,” Hayes, 33, said. “Wyatt was just this super duper sweet baby."
Hayes, who is also mom of daughter, Hazel, 3, said she has been struggling with some back-to-school sadness as she prepares one backpack instead of two. This is the year that Greyson and Wyatt would have taken the bus together.
“I never got to hear Wyatt say, ‘Mama,’ and I wonder what he would look like now,’” she shared. “I have a nephew who was born a few weeks after Wyatt, and every time he hits a different milestone, it brings up feelings.”
But Greyson’s act of kindness is bringing her comfort. She said it was Greyson’s idea to start an online fundraiser for kindergarten school supplies.
“I’m so proud of him,” she said. “He went and picked out all the stuff himself.”
Greyson walked up and down the aisles selecting items he thought Wyatt — or Bubba, as he calls him — would approve of.
“Any time he’s doing something fun, he’ll say, ‘Bubba would like this,’” Hayes revealed.
Greyson told TODAY that he’s certain Wyatt is smiling down from heaven.
“I just know he is,” Greyson said.
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