The day after Hunter saw his friend for the first time in the ICU – he decided he needed to go to work…for Scott. He had two weeks before school started, so he was going to hit it hard.

He approached neighbors offering his lawn services for a donation to his friend. Side note: The first neighbor he approached is a good family friend – we know them well and I’m sure glad we started with him because Hunter got approximately 5 seconds into his “sales pitch” before he broke down in tears and had to take some time to gather his thoughts again. It was hard talking about his friend and the long road ahead of him not to mention how it was going to impact their friendship and what they would be able to do together.

The first couple houses he visited he fought back tears and a shaky voice as he described the situation. And each house he got the same response – We would love to help you, help him. Hunter had a little calendar where he filled in the family’s name as he planned out his two weeks of service.

This was at the end of July/beginning of August – It was so hot! After his first two lawns at 9 in the morning, he realized he needed to get up even earlier to fight the heat. He started getting up almost every morning at 7am for two weeks – some days he had 2 or 3 lawns lined up and he came home a hot sweaty mess every single day.

But each time he came home beaming as he picked up the envelope on the kitchen counter labeled #SCOTTSQUAD and inserted more money into it. He worked so hard and was so excited to share the money with Scott.

Our neighbors and friends were so generous to a boy they didn’t even know. But they knew Hunter and they showed extreme generosity to his friend.

Bennett watched what Hunter was doing and wanted to help out and donated his yard work money as well. As the money piled up, Hunter’s excitement grew. He couldn’t wait to share the good news with Scott.

A couple days after they brought Scott out of the coma, we went to go visit him. I was in Scott’s room and Steve, Hunter and friends were in the waiting room (they weren’t letting any kids in at that time). We facetimed so they could see each other and Hunter shared with Scott what he had been doing. Scott was a little confused, and told Hunter he should keep the money. Hunter again assured him the money was his. Tears welled up in Scott’s eyes and those tears turned to a sob as he tried to understand why people were giving so much to him. Why him? I don’t think he understood the gravity of his situation having been out of his coma for just a few days.

It was a happy day when Scott was moved out of ICU and Hunter could go visit him and deliver that special envelope that sat on our counter for weeks – grease, food stains and all.

I can see Hunter’s heart has changed from dealing with this situation and it is evident in the way he worked hard for his buddy. My heart has changed as I’ve seen the generous outpouring of love and support from so many loving friends and neighbors – there are so many good people, willing to help.

Bless this sweet boy and his recovery.