Nathan Simons, 9, loves to watch videos on YouTube. His dad, Ethan, was worried all that watching could stunt his learning development.

But he got the shock of his life when his son came up to him and said he wanted to do the same thing he watched on YouTube.

“I told my dad a couple hours later when I got done watching the video, ‘I wanna do what they did,’” Nathan said.

What was on the video?

Was it a couple of crazy teenagers pranking each other? Or was it a couple of adults making whipped coffee? Maybe it was a video of a beautiful musical performance?

No, it was better.

He just watched a video of YouTubers who donated hundreds of dollars to homeless shelters.

Moved by their gesture, he wanted to do the same thing. But he knew he couldn’t do it alone and he needed his parents. That’s why he walked up to his dad and told him his plan.

Nathan told his dad that he wanted to take out his life savings and use it to help out the needy.

At first, Ethan hesitated. After all, it took Nathan 18 months to save up all that money.

“There was part of me that almost wanted me to talk him out of him,” Ethan recalled. “But what kind of lesson am I teaching him if I tell him, ‘No, you shouldn’t be selfless.’”

So Ethan helped out Nathan and he even matched his donation, dollar for dollar.

First, Ethan called Christian Care shelter in Rock Island, Illinois for a list of items the shelter always needed. Once he had the list, he took Nathan to the ATM to withdraw their money.

Ethan took out $150 for Nathan’s account and left just enough money to keep the account active. As promised, he matched his son’s donation and withdrew $150 from his own account.

Armed with their list (the shelter said they needed shoes, gloves, barbeque sauce, and hot sauce), they drove over the nearest Walmart to buy the needed items.

They bought multiple items of each product and added a few gifts as well, some soda and cookie cakes.

“It feels good,” Nathan said of the experience. “I wish I could have it myself, but I have to think about other people sometimes.”

This took place before the New Year’s and Nathan wanted to make sure the shelter had a few items to celebrate the brand new year.

“It makes me feel happy and proud of myself,” he said. “It’s just hard to give it away sometimes. But I’m thinking … about other people.”

Once everything was paid for and loaded up in the car, they went straight to the shelter to drop off their donations.

Cindi Gramenz, the shelter’s development coordinator, met them when they arrived to receive the donations and meet the young donor.

“You know you’re doing an awesome thing, right? You’re helping a lot of people,” Cindi lauded Nathan.

Cindi was so amazed at Nathan’s generosity.

“At nine years old, to be feeling that kind of compassion for the work we do and for what’s going on in his community is pretty amazing,” she said.

Ethan was really proud of his son’s initiative and generosity.

“Yeah, you did a good thing today, my son,” Ethan told Nathan. “Not many people can say they emptied their savings account and went shopping for a homeless shelter.”

He was so proud of his son and had to brag about the experience on Facebook.

“I can’t help it, I have to brag on my kids when they do big things. Nathan emptied his savings account today to go shopping for a homeless shelter. $148 that he has saved up over the course of the last year and a half,” Ethan wrote.

Christian Care shelter was also extra special for Nathan because his older sister is part of the US Marines. He wanted to take care of the veterans at the shelter.

Would you like to meet this nine-year-old philanthropist? Watch the video below.

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Source: CBS Local