*Donovan Steele and his mother, Casey, were once homeless. After his mom, a Navy veteran, came home, she was diagnosed with PTSD and working a minimum wage job coupled with a small amount of child support just wasn’t enough to keep a roof over their head.
Casey ended up having to sell everything she owned, her car, a small amount of jewelry, until she had nothing left. She explains on the show, Returning the Favor, that one of her worst and most hopeless moments was when there was no hot water for her son Donovan to shower. He was shivering in the cold and this brought her to tears.
She told him that if he didn’t keep himself clean, someone would know something was wrong and call Child Protective Services; and they would come and take him away from her.
But some people, no matter what age they are, are not going to be defeated.
Donovan and his mother are two of those people.
Next thing she knew, her incredibly brilliant kid came up with an idea to start making soap.
Casey supported her son’s new hobby, spending what little money she could muster up so that he could purchase the supplies and ingredients. The soap was all different colors, shapes and sizes, and it SMELLED WONDERFUL!
This generous soul then decided to start donating soap to the homeless shelter in his neighborhood. He said it gave people dignity. In the episode of the show, scroll down, we see Donovan, who resides with his mother in Albuquerque, and he thinks the show is there for a local news story that he will be a part of (not surprise him with his own store) actually cutting up the soap. Eventually we see what has to amount to hundreds and hundreds of pieces of soap; different shapes, sizes and colors.
His soap donation eventually equals 10,000 pieces…and get this…he then packs them into a suitcase AND TAKES THE BUS to deliver them to the shelter!
Even his mom stands amazed. She says he has the biggest of anyone she has ever known.
The shelter manager said that before Donovan Steele, they had no soap. The bins that now hold the soap used to be empty.
Watch the episode of the new show, ‘Returning the Favor’ below and see host Mike Rowe and his crew, who by the way, travel the country looking for people who do good deeds, meet them, and then surprise them. In the case of Donovan and his mother, not only are they surprised with the store “Donovan Discovers,” where the 14-year-old is free to create and sell his soap, and play video games in his down time, but Casey now has a new car to transport the two of them in.
Oh wait! Did I mention Russell Simmons? What the heck does he have to do with this, you ask? Hmm…just look at the episode below.
Grab your tissue, it going to be a waterfall! Thanks to Cleve Alleyne for sharing this on my Facebook page!
Returning the Favor, a web television series, premiered on Facebook Watch in August 28, 2017.
