Boy, 7, donates his entire piggy bank to victims of devastating Hurricane Ian
TikTok users were wowed by a thoughtful boy, 7, who offered to donate his piggy bank savings to the victims of Hurricane Ian. At least 100 people are known to have died after it swept through Florida
A generous young boy has offered to donate his entire piggy bank to the victims of the devastating Hurricane Ian.
Little Dominic D'Andrea, 7, was saving up to buy himself an electric scooter but offered to donate his money as "people need this".
In a video on the social media sharing platform TikTok, a sweet conversation with Dominic's mum Jaclyn is heard.
Jaclyn is heard saying to her son: "What are you doing with your piggy bank?"
"Sending it to people in need in Florida because they have a hurricane," Dominic replied. "Their offices are going to go down and they need more stuff and they might have nothing."
In the clip, Dominic can be seen clutching his piggy bank full of dollar bills and the video has already received well over 12,000 likes and 67,000 views.
His proud mum continued: "Do you know how special that is? You’re seven years old and you want to give your whole piggy bank to help people in need?"
Dominic said: "I was really saving up for an electric scooter, but people need this."
Some viewers were moved to comment on the video and praise the pair for the generosity on display, as Florida comes to terms with the devastating damage caused by the high winds and floods of Ian.
One person said: "That is an amazing man…hey mom you are amazing woman."
Another person added, simply: "Awesome kid."
There is a long cleanup ahead for victims of Hurricane Ian that made landfall with Category 4 150mph winds last week. At least 103 people have been killed in the deadly storm and the death toll is expected to rise.
Criticism of the state feeling the bitter loss of its citizens is rising, with scorn levelled at authorities for not evacuating people sooner than they did.
In Lee County, where the brunt of the storm was felt, Sheriff Carmine Marceno hit back at the criticism.
When the death toll stood at 85, at least half of the deaths were reported in Lee County alone.
He said: "I am confident in our county manager, in our leaders, our governor, all of us in law enforcement, that we got that message out at the right time."
Republican Governor Ron DeSantis also joined in with the defence of local authorities, saying people should "be focussing on lifting people up".
"Stop incessantly talking and trying to cast aspersions on people that were doing the best job they could with imperfect information," DeSantis said.
Around 10,000 people are still accounted for, though are likely to be in homes without power or in shelters.
President Joe Biden is due to visit the area on Wednesday.