5-Year-Old Makes Care Bags For Homeless Baltimore Veterans

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- In the age of social media, it's easier than ever to be exposed the world's problems, even if it's not an issue that affects you directly.

That's what happened to 5-year-old Tyler Stallings.

"Well, I saw a YouTube video, and I thought it wasn't right," he says. That video was about veteran homelessness.

On any given night in the U.S., it is estimated that some 200,000 veterans call the streets home.

Those facts got Tyler thinking, which is why when WJZ's Mike Schuh visited him, Tyler was strapped into a seat in the back of his mom's car navigating rush hour traffic in downtown Baltimore.

"We are headed to the Community Resource and Referral Center," says his mom, Andrea Blackstone.

It's a place most 5-year-olds will never see, where homeless vets can get help from the VA.

Tyler and Andrea were loaded up with bags and backpacks filled with the stuff homeless veterans need to survive on the streets.

Tyler has prepared bags for both men and women.

"It's just his was of saying, 'I care about you and be encouraged,'" his mother says.

"What struck me was because that, you know, they shouldn't be on the street," Tyler says.

He has this empathy because of those around him.

"Almost everybody in our family is a veteran," he says. Including his grandfather, Alfred Blackstone.

You'd think he'd have his hands full enough already, but in his spare time he's published a book. And he has another on the way.

"The coloring book, still working on that," he says.

To help Tyler continue making care bags for homeless veterans, CLICK HERE.

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