When we were just kids, many of us wanted to be some type of superhero. For boys, it was mainly Superman or Batman and for girls, it was usually Wonder Woman or Supergirl. But one four-year-old boy wants to be a different kind of superhero: one who helps homeless people.
That’s right. Austin Perine is going all over the country being his own superhero. So what’s his superpower? Feeding the homeless.
It all started when Austin told his dad he wanted to help people who didn’t have a place to call home or warm food to eat.
“I was reluctant because this was my four-year-old baby I was putting out in the street, but he was persistent,” said Austin’s dad T.J. Perine. “I took him to get some sandwiches and there we were making people smile, no matter what they had went through.”
One day of feeding in their hometown of Birmingham, AL turned into thousands of social media followers and a 10-city cross-country tour, complete with sponsors and donations through their nonprofit, Show Love, Inc.
“It was really an eye-opening experience for me as an adult, that my four-year-old son was really encouraging me to do something different than I have done in the past,” said T.J. Perine. “I want to encourage other parents to listen to their kids and if it’s something positive that they want to do, show them that there are no limits to what you want in this world.”
Austin and his father handed out 700 hamburgers at the Dallas shelter Thursday, with a full schedule for the next few days as a part of his 10-city tour to feed the homeless.
The “dynamic duo” have their work cut out for them. Although black Americans comprise 12.5 percent of the nation’s population, they are overrepresented among the nation’s homeless as housing prices increase and because fewer units of affordable housing are being built. These two factors are compounded by existing housing discrimination and the black unemployment rate, which is always the nation’s highest.
These factors often result in blacks sleeping in the streets or in homeless shelters.
Last year, the United States’ homeless population was 553, 742. Of this number, 224, 937 were homeless black men and…
… black women, accounting for 40.6 percent of the total homeless population, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Austin is scheduled to speak at two North Texas schools on Friday and then will be honored by the City of Arlington’s Mayor in a public assembly Friday night. He will be honored with a proclamation for all of his good deeds. That assembly will be held at Koinonia Church at 2455 SE Green Oaks Blvd in Arlington.
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