Photo Credit: Alyssa Fried
Eddie Vedder performed a remarkable act of altruistic charity earlier this month, donating $10,000 to a Maryland family facing eviction.
Vedder donated the check after reading about a Washington Post article highlighting the family’s plight. The article, published December 20th, detailed the case of Tyshika Britten, a 35-year-old hairstylist struggling to support her family of six.
“I was just so moved by the story and what this mother did for her children,” Vedder said in an interview with the Washington Post. “I thought those kids must be so proud of their mother for reaching out. That takes a lot of courage.”
Vedder said Britten’s story resonated with his own childhood experience.
“There were years there were toys from Santa, but they were used and they came from garage sales and they didn’t always work,” Vedder said.
Britten had previously begged for help via Craigslist, where she posed that her family would soon be evicted from their home and that she had no money to buy a tree or gifts for her children.
“I’m so hurt,” she wrote. “I’m trying my best. I pray everyday and now I’m begging for help. I know it’s not about the gifts, but they are kids! I’m such a failure right now.”
Britten’s post went viral, hundreds of strangers from around the country began sending her family Christmas gifts. Others offered to help financially. Vedder’s donation represents a mere drop in the bucket of Christmas goodwill shown toward the Britten family.
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