Introducing Georgia Eight-Year-Old Aiding Disadvantaged Kids — Bowtie By Bowtie

Nov 24, 2020 by apost team

One Georgia elementary school student is changing the world. At just 5 years old, Treandos Thornton started his own company T-and-N Bow Ties and Apparel. Now, just three years after starting his own business, the 8-year-old Georgian teamed up with UPS this holiday season to give back to his community.

Through his bowtie business, Treandos Thornton and his family are raising money for children in need. According to 11 Alive, Treandos Thornton, his brother Noah Thornton, and his parents teamed up with UPS to donate food and toys to children in need.

“Helping other people that are less fortunate than me — that’s why I started my toy and food drive,” Treandos Thornton explains in the video from the UPS, shown below. “Because I was watching a commercial on people who didn’t have food, and I was like, ‘Why are they crying?’ And I asked my mom.”

“And I explained to him,” Treandos’ mother Shana Thornton says in the same video, “that not everyone was fortunate as he. “And he said, ‘That’s not right mommy and daddy, and I want to do something about it.’”

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The Thornton family went to the UPS delivery hub in Georgia to give the drivers bowties, as you’ll see in the video below. Each driver received a golden bowtie as a gift. But the drivers had a surprise of their own for the Thorntons: a UPS truck full of food and toys donated to a local organization in Treandos Thornton’s name.

But this isn’t the first time Treandos Thornton has given back to his community. The young boy has been a philanthropist throughout his short career. According to an interview Treandos Thornton and his mother gave to Fox 5 in 2019, the young entrepreneur came up with the idea for a holiday food drive in 2015, adding additional toy donations in 2018. The response, Shana Thornton said, was “amazing.”

“We’ve had individuals from the metro area of Atlanta help us and [...] all the way from Texas as well as New York and South Carolina,” Shana Thornton explained. “They have heard about it from social media, they have sent monetary donations. And he and his brother and friends and family had the opportunity to go to local grocery stores and buy the non/perishable food items.”

But Treandos Thornton’s achievements don’t end there. The 8-year-old elementary school student also has his own podcast, Business Tips With Treandos, where he interviews local business leaders and offers listeners his own entrepreneurial insights. In one of his most recent episodes, which came out around five months ago, Treandos interviewed Telley Anthony, the Vice President and Director of Operations of This Is It! BBQ & Seafood. Other notable episodes include number six, in which he interviews award-winning journalist Cheryl Preheim, and number 12 in which he interviews Alzheimer's advocate Sylvia Dennis Wray.

"He's gaining entrepreneurship and life skills from this," Shana Thornton said in an interview with Patch. "I am so impressed and he's encouraged us, he and his brother, to just remember that at the end of the day it's about helping one another.”

In many ways, Treandos Thornton’s journey mirrors Darius Brown’s. Brown, a 14-year-old New Jersey native, started his own bowtie business Beaux & Paws at the age of 10. Like Treandos Thornton, Brown was inspired to start his business in order to give back to others. After seeing how Hurricane Harvey and Irma in 2017 particularly affected pets displaced by the natural disasters, Brown came up with the idea to help pets look cuter and more adoptable by providing them with bowties. Since then, Brown has donated numerous bowties to shelters across the country and overseas.

Beyond getting recognition from his community and multiple news outlets, Brown received a letter from former President Barack Obama in 2018.

“After hearing your story, I wanted to reach out to commend you for your commitment to community service,” President Obama wrote.

“From founding Beaux and Paws to lifting up the lives of those around you, it’s clear you are doing your part to look out for your fellow citizens. As long as you stay engaged in the world around you, continue looking for ways to help others, and never give up on yourself, I’m confident our future will be bright,” he continued.

Whether we look at Brown or Treandos Thornton, these two young men should give us hope in the world. Before they were even in high school, these two entrepreneurs were already looking out for their communities — and that’s incredible.

What do you think about Treandos Thornton and Darius Brown’s businesses? Let us know and be sure to pass this story on to others. We need more like Treandos and Darius in the world.