‘They just need a little kindness’: 10-year-old makes more than 50 lunches a week for the homeless

A 10-year-old Massachusetts boy makes more than 50 homemade lunches each week for the homeless, according to WCVB-TV.

Liam Hannon, an incoming fifth-grader, passes out the lunches each week to homeless individuals near his Cambridge home. The lunches contain sandwiches, fruit, and potato chips, as well as notes of encouragement like “Have a nice day” or “Try to smile.”

Liam’s family told the Massachusetts-based website, Wicked Local, that he got the idea from Brain Chase, an educational website he used this summer in lieu of going to camp.

“It’s a treasure hunt, but you have to do different academic challenges and I picked ‘service,’ and for the first week it was helping the homeless,” Liam said.

Liam’s father, Scott Hannon, said when he heard about Liam’s service project, he started to think of ways they might be able to help the homeless on a “large scale.”

“I was coming up with all these ideas, thinking huge picture, and he just goes, ‘Dad, why don’t we make lunch for the people outside our apartment building. They’re homeless and hungry,’” Hannon said.

Liam’s idea led to the launch of his project, “Liam’s Lunches of Love.” Once a week, the Hannons pack 50-60 lunches and deliver them to the homeless in their city. The family initially supplied all the groceries for the lunches, but friends and members of the community have contributed funds to keep the project going.

Liam said helping his community “feels great.”

“Because of what happened to them, they’ve gotten depressed and they just need a little kindness in their life,” he said. “We have a few people we see pretty much every time we do it. Usually when we first come see them, they look really sad and when we go over and talk to them they light up.”

The Hannons added that after visiting local shelters, they learned that school supplies were needed for local children who can’t afford them, so they are also planning a school supply drive.