The above is a photoshop done over the real photo of the family. They didn’t really get a ukulele.
According to a struggling family from Oxon Hill, Maryland, you can’t find a better man than Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder. Donnell Booker Sr. and Tyshika Britten are the parents of five boys and a baby girl, and the family was facing eviction approaching Christmas. Britten made a Craigslist post about her family’s struggles, also mentioning there wouldn’t be any Christmas gifts for her family, they couldn’t even afford a tree.
“I’m such a failure right now,” she wrote. “Please help me.” The Craigslist post went viral due to a Washington Post article, leading to offers from around the world to help. One person sent a PlayStation 4, another a puppy, but the family were shocked when Eddie Vedder gave them a $10,000 check.
“Is he in a band?” Britten asked.
Pearl Jam, Google told her. When the bank teller saw his name and the amount, his head dropped into his hands. The family has been watching his concerts online.
“I was just so moved by the story and what this mother did for her children,” Vedder said in an interview Sunday with the Washington Post. “I thought those kids must be so proud of their mother for reaching out. That takes a lot of courage.”
Vedder said he saw some of his own childhood in their story.
“There were years there were toys from Santa, but they were used and they came from garage sales and they didn’t always work,” he said. Vedder knows there are complex social issues beyond the range of his check, but he wanted to provide, as he put it, “a tourniquet” to help the family gain some control and normalcy.
