Jahkil Jackson, an 11-year old boy from Chicago, has already helped over 20,000 hom-eless people in his city by giving away ‘Blessing Bags’ through his organization Project I Am. At the young age of 8, he started helping people through small ways and he is up for bigger goals as he grows older.
“Seeing people on the street made me really sad because I thought everybody had homes,” Jackson told Today. Jackson was 5-years old when he first saw a home-less person. Since then, he asked his mother if they could buy houses for all hom-eless people. While it seemed to be a far-fetched idea for a young child, he made *ffo*ts to help them through the organization called Project I Am that he established when he was 8-years old.
Through the organization, he gave t*iletr!es, food, and water stuffed in what he called ‘Blessing Bags’ to homeless people in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Virginia, and Idaho. His eff-orts are not limited nationally.
He has also helped people internat-ionally, including those orphans in Mbabane, Swaziland, volcano v!ct!ms in Guatemala, and hurricane surv!vo*s in Florida, Houston, and Puerto Rico. “When I’m giving the bags to people it makes me feel like I’m getting one step closer to demolishing the whole hom-eless thing… and it makes me happy to see the smiles on their faces,” Jackson said.
Jackson, who was named a Youth Ambassador for one of the world’s leading anti-poverty organizations Heartland Alliance International in 2016, has also been acknowledged by former President Barack Obama as one of the three most influential people of 2017.
“To know that someone like him knows my name, and supports what I do encourages me to keep moving forward every day,” he said in an interview with Forbes. Basketball superstar LeBron James has also recognized him and helped promote Project I Am. Jackson, who loves basketball as a fan and a player, dreams of having his own NBA team one day.
Moreover, Jackson continues to help more less-fortunate people in any way he possibly can. “There’s way more home-less people in the world that I could help, that I need to help.”