Not all heroes wear capes.
If you need a bit of good news right now (who doesn’t?), one California dad’s heartwarming deed should do the trick.
Mitch Couch, a building inspector and dad who lives in Lemoore, California, built 35 desks for students who are learning virtually right now and don’t have a dedicated spot to study at home.
“I was inspired to build the desks when our kids had to stay home for distance learning,” says the dad of four kids, ages 21, 20, 16 and 9. “They took up the kitchen table all day. I built the desks for them, then posted it on my Instagram to show others how to build them.”
He also posted pictures on Reddit of the finished product. The materials, he noted, only cost $20–significantly less than what retailers are charging for desks that are suddenly in hot demand.
“I had no idea how bad families needed the space for their kids,” he says of the response to his videos and photos. “Also, stores were running low on supplies of desks.”
Soon enough, Mitch was contacted by a local grocery store, Grocery Outlet, that wanted to help get more desks built and distributed to kids. The store purchased all the materials and Mitch built 35 desks. Then, the Grocery Outlet contacted local schools to help get Mitch’s hand-crafted creations in the homes of students who needed them.
Mitch posted a picture on Reddit of the 35 desks lined up in his driveway, and his good deed quickly went viral, racking up more than 140,000 upvotes. Several commenters have asked Mitch for the instructions so they can build desks for students in their area too.
“The reaction has been so heartwarming,” Mitch says. “Helping and serving others is something that sticks with you a long time.”
In a world where it seems like we’re being bombarded with bad news, Mitch’s project and pics are the pick-me-up we needed to restore our faith in humanity. Thank you, Mitch.
Family
Not all heroes wear capes.
He gave them away to students in need.
