A 7-year-old Austin boy has raised more than $5,000 from selling hot chocolate with funds he’s dedicating to build a border wall along the southern U.S. border.
On Saturday, Benton Stevens and his dad, Shane, posted a video on Facebook showcasing the hot chocolate stand in front of a shopping complex, selling for $2 a cup.
Benton’s hot chocolate stand for the wall:)
Posted by Shane Stevens on Saturday, February 16, 2019
A sign in front of young Benton’s stand said that “proceeds help Trump build the wall.” And for an extra 50 cents, Benton offered extra large “Nancy Pelosi” marshmallows to melt. Smaller “Beto O’Rourke” marshmallows were offered to customers at no extra charge.
Some people weren’t as nice to Benton.
His mother, Jennifer Stevens told Austin station KXAN that her son was yelled at by some who drove by the stand.
“He was called a little Hitler yesterday,” Stevens said. “A guy pointed at him in his car and then he said that we didn’t like brown people. I don’t understand that at all.”
While some slammed the Stevens for using their son to make political statements, others supported them.
One donor matched the money he raised on Saturday. And when the Stevens’ told Benton about the mixed reactions, Jennifer says it “fired him up,” and so they set up the stand again on Sunday.
After sales over the weekend, Benton’s dad posted Monday, that young Benton raised more than $2,200 through a Venmo account. And by Tuesday, Shane Stevens reports the account totaled about $5,000.
