Pride of Australia: Selfless action to help homeless earns boy, 8, awards nomination

EVER since he saw a man sleep rough on the streets, Adrian Young, 8, has been on a mission to make people feel loved.

EVER since he saw a man sleep rough on the streets of Toowoomba, Adrian Young has been on a mission to make people feel loved, one care pack at a time.

Adrian and his mum Jen were rushing back to the car one blistering cold evening in July this year when the 8-year-old spotted a homeless man laying down blankets to sleep.

“I don’t think it’s fair that people don’t have homes,” Adrian said.

“He actually asked if we could bring him home, and said that he had a bed for long enough and asked if we could give him his bed, and then he asked if we could buy the man a house,” Ms Young said.

“I then explained that he wasn’t the only homeless man around, there were many other homeless people and we couldn’t buy everyone a house.”

Adrian Young is on a mission to help homeless people.

Instead Adrian and his mum decided they would put together care packs for those doing it tough.

“He wanted everyone to feel cared for, that’s what he really wanted. He came up with things that he loves and things that make him feel good and that’s what we’ve put in the pack,” Ms Young said.

It took three days for the pair to buy the items, put the initial 50 packs together, and hand them to a charity.

Each pack is filled with basic necessities and a label that reads “I care for you, with love”.

“He’s on a mission to make a change and he wants everyone to feel loved and cared for,” his mum said.

But what started off small suddenly grew when Adrian’s movement gained traction on social media.

They are now putting on a large Christmas appeal to get supermarkets on board and make extra packs.

“We’re hoping to make 200 Christmas packs to give out. We’ve so far raised $14,000, so we can commit a fair bit of that money to making Christmas packs,” Ms Young said.

The Rangeville boy, who wants to be an electrician, a boxer and someone who helps people when he grows up, has always put others before himself.

“I feel happy that we can help people in their life,” he said.

Adrian is nominated for a Pride of Australia award for his selflessness.