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Just being a kid
7-12
Mt. Carmel boy shovels dozens of driveways for neighbors during snow days
Photo and reporting by
WFIE 14 News
Twelve-year-old Emmett Hays shoveled more than 30 driveways and sidewalks around Mt. Carmel, Illinois, over a few days of snow, taking whatever price people thought was fair instead of setting one himself. His idea of a break was lying down in the snow and covering himself with it, like he was at the beach.
The parent kept their hands off
Amanda Hays drove Emmett from house to house and let him run the whole thing himself, no set price, no script for what to say at the door. The only thing she pushed on was making him come inside to warm up.
Why we picked this one
The shoveling wasn't the hard part. Emmett said the embarrassing part was asking, which is why he skipped it and just started doing driveways instead. Most kids stall out at that exact step, not the physical one.
Snow's still coming down and the shovel's already by the door. Skip your own driveway first and knock on the older neighbor's instead.
Read the full story at
WFIE 14 News
Where it happened:
Mt. Carmel
Somewhere in your garage there's a shovel that hasn't touched a driveway that isn't yours. The hard part was never the snow, it was knocking on the door first.