PLANTATION, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida mother is honoring a hero — her late teenage son — by giving hundreds of students all the supplies they need for a successful school year, and it’s all thanks to a young man who sacrificed his life to try to save a stranger.
A backpack giveaway was held Sunday morning in Plantation in honor of Aden Perry, a teenager who put someone else’s safety above his own and made the ultimate sacrifice.
The Aden Perry Good Samaritan and Scholarship Fund handed out hundreds of book bags to incoming students near North Nob Hill Road and Cleary Boulevard.
Sarah Perry, Aden’s mother, highlighted the importance of helping to ensure these students are prepared when classes resume later this month.
“We’re here today in honor of my son, to give back to the community and help kids on their academic journeys by giving them school supplies, in honor of my son,” she said. “He was a brilliant student, and he had a heart for helping others, and while he was in school, he always would go to school early and stay late to help students, help them to do their best in school.”
The backpacks were filled with essential school supplies, as the start of the new year for public and private schools is just days away.
Supplies were also given out to decorate the 500 backpacks, as well as snow cones on this hot South Florida day.
Students were treated to snacks and face painting, and everyone entered a raffle with the chance to win a month of reading tutoring.
The Aden Perry Good Samaritan and Scholarship Fund partnered with the Kumon Learning Center for the event.
“Today I’m helping my friend Sarah Perry, whose son passed away last year. He died a hero; he was saving somebody else when the car had gone into the lake,” said Liv Marwah, the owner of Kumon Learning Center. “I had known Sarah for 10 years, and this is in support of her Aden Perry Good Samaritan and Scholarship Fund. It takes a village to raise kids, it takes a village to do anything, so we are her village, and she is ours.”
Aden was just 17 years old when he jumped into the water along the 1200 block of Silver Palm Boulevard, on April 19, 2022. The driver also did not survive.
But the loss of Aden led to the foundation named for him. It strives to make South Florida communities safer, like providing 12 water rescue rings to Margate earlier this year.
Sarah said she hopes this event and the foundation spread her son’s legacy far and wide.
“It’s bittersweet. I’m here, it feels great to be able to help the kids, it really does, and I feel like I’m carrying on my son’s work,” she said. “As a mom, you know, your kids are supposed to be your legacy, but I feel like I’m living my son’s legacy, so by being here, helping the kids, in a way, I’m continuing his work by helping students in his name.”
The Aden Perry Good Samaritan and Scholarship Fund provided more than 100 scholarships to students in the last school year, ensuring his legacy of kindness and compassion lives on.
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