A seven-year-old Texas boy raised an astonishing $22,000 for the construction of Trump’s border wall with Mexico on hot chocolate and lemonade sales. The boy, Benton Stevens from Austin, was a part of crowdfunding group called “We Build The Wall” and attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the sponsored section of the wall that was built on private land in New Mexico.
“We were honored to have him at our ribbon cutting ceremony yesterday for the wall he helped pay for along with all of you who donated,” the group wrote on Facebook.
Benton Stevens raised $22k with his hot chocolate stand to help build the wall! We were honored to have him at our…
Posted by We Build The Wall Inc on Friday, May 31, 2019
Benton’s work started after Trump issued a fresh call for the structure during his State of the Union address this year, Fox 35 reports.
“Benton decided right then and there that he wanted to help the president build the wall,” his mother, Jennifer Stevens, told Fox 35.
Benton set up his hot chocolate stand back in February in his family’s neighborhood, and has since started his own brand and website, selling hot chocolate and lemonade mixes, and other merchandise.
Benton’s website tells the story of how it all started:
In the span of 2 days, after many positive and a few negative remarks plus a social media frenzy in our neighborhood, he earned a total of $1400 cash in 3 hours (1 hour the first day and 2 hours the next). Local news picked up the story and then it appeared on National news. We began to get requests to pay from out of state, so we set up a Venmo account. Benton received an outcry of support from Hannity, Shannon Bream, ABC, Members of Congress, Donald Trump Jr. and many more across the nation.
Customers and donors kept adding up, but when he reached $13,500 raised Venmo froze his account. That was when he set up the website and a P.O. Box to accept donations. Benton’s ultimate goal is to raise $50,000 for border wall construction, so visit his website, Benton’s Stand, and support the cause!
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Matt Margolis is the author of The Scandalous Presidency of Barack Obama and the bestselling The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. His new book, Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy, will be published in July 2019. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
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