Driven by Kindness: How a Community Saved a Young Boy
Clanton, Alabama — Sometimes, a rainbow is just a rainbow. That was the case for 10-year-old Hunter Blankenship. He is a car-loving autistic boy who simply liked the look of his rainbow-colored glasses. But what was once a fun choice turned into a source of pain when he was cruelly bullied for them.
A few months ago, Hunter was outside playing. An older child taunted him with a homophobic slur. The child told him he should take his own life.
“All of a sudden, he stormed off and he’s holding a knife,” Hunter’s mother, Meghan Fancher, recalls. “And I was like, ‘No, what are you doing?’ And he said, ‘I’m going to kill myself.'”
Hunter spent two weeks on the psychiatric floor at Children’s of Alabama hospital. Just before his release, Fancher made a simple ask on social media:
“To see if I could get four or five cars to just come down the driveway when he comes home,” Fancher said. “That would have been more than enough for him.”
But the response far exceeded her expectations. Sergio Sanchez, owner of a local Clanton restaurant, saw the post and rallied car clubs across Alabama. The result? A massive show of love and support.
“Cars all the way from north Alabama to south Alabama,” Sanchez said. “They literally had to shut down downtown.”
Roughly 1,500 show cars arrived, accompanied by more than 1,500 friends Hunter never knew he had.
“He was, ‘Oh, there’s my favorite person! There’s my other favorite person!’ We’re running to everybody,” Fancher said.
Hunter, diagnosed with autism at four, had always found joy in cars. “They’re just his thing, his eyes light up when he talks about cars,” his mother shared. They helped him learn to count, recognize colors, and even spot cars by their fenders and mirrors. Now, they were the very thing bringing him back from despair.
“It did,” Fancher said. “It saved his life.”
Hunter now wears his rainbow glasses with pride, bolstered by the kindness of thousands. His story is a powerful reminder that compassion and love can drown out cruelty.
We all take this lesson to heart—kindness will always win the race.
Source:
- https://youtu.be/B7P4MCGbL7w?si=21sfHbJ3DZ2gife1
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hundreds-of-muscle-car-collectors-rally-around-bullied-alabama-boy/
- https://www.cbs42.com/news/clanton-community-rallies-around-bullied-10-year-old-boy-with-autism/
- https://www.cbsnews.com/video/alabama-community-turns-out-to-support-bullied-autistic-boy/
- https://chatgpt.com/
- https://app.pictory.ai/
About Author
