Helping homeless comes natural for Oscar Jr.
Oscar Payton Jr. collected donated items to give to people less fortunate than him.
“One day we were driving and he said, ‘Mom, I want to help the homeless people.’ I figured he’d forget about it, so I kind of brushed it off.
A month went by and he said, ‘Do you not remember what I told you? I want to help the homeless people, but you haven’t done anything about it.’ So I said, ‘Why don’t you do something about it.’ He had this money jug, and he said he could save the money and I could help the homeless.
He’s always been a giver. But for him to say, hey, take my money and do this, it blew me away. I told him to write a note and we’d put it on a donation box at the coffee shop. The next thing you know, our customers were bringing in stuff and putting it in the box.
He knew that my husband was passionate about helping people. So right after he died, Oscar kind of took the initiative to do something. I asked him why, and he said, ‘I just really want to make my dad proud. Dad always taught us how to give and help other people. He’s not here, so I want to do it.’
“We’ve had incredible support. One of the things we did was fill over 100 care boxes with items people donated and other things we bought with the money Oscar raised. I would keep five or so boxes in the car so that every time we would see a homeless person, he would say, ‘Look, there’s somebody. Let’s give it to him.’ I would roll down the window and he would give the box to the person. I’m so proud of him. His father would be, too.”
— Samantha Payton
Samantha runs Payton’s Blend coffee shop in Baytown. After her husband died of a heart attack in February, their son, Oscar Jr., has helped carry on a tradition of helping those less fortunate.
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