High School Student Bullied For Wearing The Same Clothes Every Day Gets Heartwarming Surprise From Two Of The School's Football Players
After noticing all of the bullying, two of the high school's football players decided to step in and help.
antoniodiaz / Shutterstock In high school, teenagers can often lack compassion and an understanding of their fellow classmates and the hardships they may be going through. One high school freshman named Michael Todd shared the relentless bullying he had endured because of his clothes, and the heartwarming surprise was given to him by two of his schoolmates who noticed and wanted to help make it stop.
Todd was bullied for wearing the same clothes to school every day since he couldn't afford new ones.
In 2019, Todd, a freshman at MLK College Preparatory School in Memphis, Tennessee, became the subject of relentless bullying because he and his family could only afford to buy him one outfit. Since the first day of starting high school, Todd was teased and picked on by his fellow schoolmates for wearing the same clothes every day straight for three weeks.
"I really don't have clothes at home," he told CBS. "My mom can't buy clothes for me because I'm growing too fast."
Todd, who explained that he had been the victim of bullying throughout his "entire life," would soon be moved to tears after receiving a moving surprise gift from two of his classmates who had noticed the excessive negative comments being made by the other teenagers at their high school.
Two of the school's football players decided to step in and surprise Todd with a gift bag.
On a Monday morning, Todd received an unexpected surprise from two of the high school's football players, Kristopher Graham and Antwan Garrett, who decided to reach into their own closets to help Todd get a new wardrobe.
Once Graham started noticing the bullying Todd was enduring, he felt moved enough to text Garrett, telling him to go through any clothes in his closet that he wouldn't mind giving to Todd. After putting together a bag full of different clothes, including shirts, shoes, shorts, and pants, the two teenage boys surprised Todd with it while he was standing in the hallway at school.
“It was a weak moment for me. I was going to cry,” Garrett told Fox affiliate WHBQ of giving Todd the clothing. “He wasn’t smiling or anything, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I think this is going to make him smile.' I told him we were in the same third period — I said, ‘I apologize for laughing at you, and I want to give something to you to make it up.’"
Graham too expressed the heavy emotion he felt after Todd told both him and Garrett that they were the only two who had ever given him a gift. Todd explained that he was "shocked" yet "very happy" by their gesture.
“You guys are the best guys of my entire life,” Todd told Graham and Garrett.
Video of the gift exchange eventually caught the attention of Ellen DeGeneres, who welcomed Todd, Garrett, and Graham onto her show where she and celebrity guest Will Smith surprised them with $10,000 each.
"We weren't expecting the video to go viral. We just wanted to make a change," Garrett said after appearing on 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show,' according to Commercial Appeal. "I know how it feels not to have nothin'. I don't have much, but it made me feel better by seeing somebody else have."
"I haven't had like the best of life. Everybody struggles."
In a world where a person's struggle is often fought alone, these three teenagers showed that empathy knows no bounds and that even the smallest gestures can have the biggest impact and make a huge difference. Their story serves as a poignant reminder that even in the darkest of moments, compassion is a force capable of changing lives and healing wounds.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.