Angel Ortero may be one of the luckiest kids of 2020. He's also proven he's one of the ones with the biggest heart.
The 16-year-old and his mom won one of the holiday season's hottest items in a raffle. Just about any teen boy would be overjoyed at a free PlayStation 5. Instead of thinking about himself, however, Angel had someone else on his mind.
Angel thought of his neighbor, 10-year-old Sonny Boyd. The teen boy knew the fifth-grader had been through a lot. Not only was he on the mend from a broken leg, but he recently had surgery for brain cancer.
Sonny was overjoyed to receive the gift from his Philadelphia neighbor. His parents didn't feel they could accept the generous gift without giving something to Angel in return. Rather than keep it for himself, however, Angel found yet another way to give back to his community. He shared his story with 6ABC.
Thanks to a neighborhood teen, one struggling little boy had Christmas come early. Sonny Boyd is 10 years old. The fifth-grader was diagnosed with brain cancer recently and underwent surgery. He's also recovering from a broken leg.
Angel Ortero knew just what a hard time Sonny has had. They're neighbors, so he's familiar with what Sonny and his family have been through. So when Angel's mom shared that they'd won a brand-new PlayStation 5, one of the holiday's most coveted gifts, in a raffle, Angel got an idea.
Angel decided to gift the console to Sonny. This is no small gift. Although it retails for $500 to $600, people are paying up to $2,000 to get their hands on one before the holidays.
"Me being a 16-year-old kid I was just excited to play it, but I saw Sonny's post and I thought his happiness being at such a young age and what he's been gone through," he told 6ABC.
"I just think all the materialistic things aren't important as the smile I could put on his face," Angel continued.
Sonny was incredibly thankful for the generous gift. His family felt they couldn't just accept the gift, so they later gave Angel some cash to thank him.
Angel saw the opportunity to help more children. He decided to use the cash to buy gifts for other disadvantaged children.
"I wanted that gift to be from me to Sonny," he said.
"So, I took the money, bought as many toys as I could. I will be donating them to my grandmom," he explained.
Angel's grandma is a pastor. She's working on sending Angel's impressive haul of children's gifts to kids in the Dominican Republic.
Sonny's mom expressed her gratitude again when she shared video of the moment Angel came by and gave Sonny the gift.
"What a random act of kindness from a young man, he could of chose many of things to do with it but his his huge heart took him to our Sonnyboy," she wrote.
"It didn't surprise us at all, this kid has been aces since he was little!"
"His mom did an awesome job raising such a kind hearted all around great kid!" she continued.
"We haven't seen Sonny smile the way he did tonight in a while. We can't say Thank you enough to the both of you! We will forever be grateful!"
Angel has learned a lot about the world this year. The more hurt he sees, the more he wants to find ways to make a difference:
"I'm just keeping in mind all the hard things going around, the [health crisis], all the struggles people are going through and if I could use my blessings and spread it with others just means the most to me."
