Tow Truck Owner Uses Viral Challenge To Help A Homeless Family

Tow Truck Owner Uses Viral Challenge To Help A Homeless Family

Put down your bags of ice and buckets of cold water. This man has a viral video challenge for you that is making the world a kinder place.

When a Hawaii tow truck owner known as Towing Billy was tagged in an ice bucket challenge video on Facebook, he headed to Wal-Mart to buy a bag of ice to pour over himself for the sake of social media. But on his way to the store, he had a better idea.

"I'm calling out everybody on Facebook," Towing Billy says in the video below. "Instead of doing the ice challenge, make one difference in somebody's life."

Instead of ice, he purchased a case of bottled water, a propane stove, canned goods, toiletries and other living essentials. Then, he headed to a homeless encampment in Honolulu known as "Tent City," to give away his newly purchased goods.

That's where he met Tracy, a local homeless man who, with his young daughter, was resting under a tree after being forced by police to move their belongings from the sidewalk -- part of Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell's controversial strategy to eradicate the city's homelessness issue by strengthening certain laws that make life on the streets even more difficult and, at times, illegal.

"Since God blessed me," Billy explains in his video, "I'm going to be the one blessing."

He turns the camera to show off Tracy's new things; then, he points the camera at Tracy and his daughter.

"Thank you," he tells Billy on camera, "I don't know what this ice challenge is, but you win."

Billy hopes that his random act of kindness will inspire more people to do the same and that, one day, his Facebook newsfeed will be filled with "positive things like people helping other people, instead of half naked girls shaking their butts and all that negative stuff," he said.

Since posting the video on Tuesday, it has been shared more than 4,900 times. A local news station featured it on their nightly newscast. Billy said that people from Germany, Fiji and all over the U.S. have messaged him, praising him for his uplifting challenge, and have been tagging him in their own video challenges.

"It's spreading and it's humbling," he told HuffPost. "I am just amazed at how far this thing has gone. I'm just a local boy from Waipahu who drives a tow truck, and in the past 24 hours, it's been crazy."

Before You Go

5 Guys Shot With 21,000 Paintballs For Charity

10 Daring Charity Stunts

Close

What's Hot