A 7-Year Old Boy Raises $160K for Haiti Earthquake Relief

A 7-year-old boy from England arranged a bike ride at a local park and raised $160,000 for a Haiti relief fund in the process. Charlie Simpson was so affected by the events in Haiti that he used a simple bicycle ride to raise money. The ride was enormously successful, in part because the compassionate child took his aid-raising efforts online. Donations are still pouring into Charlie's website.

"He was really upset by the pictures on TV. He actually burst into tears. He sat on my lap and we had a chat about the things he could do. He decided to do the cycle ride and he made me do a sponsorship form and that was it. We sent it out on the web and it just went everywhere," said Lenora Simpson, the boys mother.

http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=822955&pid=822954&uts=1264526281

http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf

Martin L. King Family Album 2

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, sit with three of their four children in their Atlanta, Ga, home, on March 17, 1963. From left are: Martin Luther King III, 5, Dexter Scott, 2, and Yolanda Denise, 7. Yolanda Denise King, daughter and eldest child of civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., has died, said Steve Klein, a spokesman for the King Center. King died late Tuesday May 15, 2007 in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 51.

AP Photo

BlackVoices.com

Martin L. King Family Album 2

27 Oct 1960, Chamblee, Georgia, USA --- After Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is freed from prison under a $2000 appeal bond, he is greeted by his wife Coretta and children, Marty and Yoki, at the airport in Chamblee, Georgia.

Martin L. King Family Album 2

Coretta Scott King, wife of jailed integration leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and their three children pack a picnic basket with at their Albany, Ga. temporary home, August 5, 1962. This is the 10th day the Atlanta pastor has spent in jail for his integration activity. From left are: Martin Luther King III, 4; Yolanda Denise King, 6; and Dexter Scott King, 18 months old.

Martin L. King Family Album 2

Coretta Scott King holds her sleeping daughter Bernice at the funeral of her husband Martin Luther King Jr.. His brother A.D. King sits beside them.

Martin L. King Family Album 2

ATLANTA - FEBRUARY 6: The children of Coretta Scott King, Dexter Scott King, left to right, Rev. Bernice King, Martin Luther King III, and Yolanda King react during a musical tribute to Coretta Scott King at the new Ebenezer Church February 6, 2006 in Atlanta, Georgia. King's casket will lie in Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her husband the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached in the 1960s and the civil rights matriarch remained a member until her death. King died January 31 in Mexico at an alternative medicine clinic, where doctors said she was battling advanced ovarian cancer.

Martin L. King Family Album 2

Dexter Scott King, youngest son of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gets a hug from his mother, Coretta Scott King, at a news conference, in this Jan. 14, 1989 file photo, in Atlanta where it was announced that he would replace her as president of the King Center as of April 4, 1989. King, who turned a life shattered by her husband's assassination into one devoted to enshrining his legacy of human rights and equality, has died, former mayor Andrew Young told NBC Tuesday, morning, Jan. 31, 2006. She was 78.

Martin L. King Family Album 2

Family members of the slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., left to right, sister Christine King-Farris, son Martin Luther King III, widow Coretta Scott King, daughter Yolanda King and an unidentified young boy, pray at his tomb in Atlanta, Ga., Monday, April 4, 1994. The ceremony marks the 26th anniversary of King's death.

Martin L. King Family Album 2

The second daughter and youngest child of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King, Jr and Coretta Scott King, Bernice A. King (R) and Honoree of the Ford Freedon Scholar Award Dr. Dorothy I. Height attend the Ford Freedom Award Dinner and Ceremony honoring Coretta Scott King and Dr. Dorothy Height at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History May 6, 2008 in Detroit, Michigan.

Martin L. King Family Album 2

Coretta Scott King's children, Dexter Scott King, left to right, Rev. Bernice King, Yolanda King and Martin Luther King III pose for a photograph before a press availability at Paschals Restaurant in downtown Atlanta Sunday, Feb. 5, 2006.

Martin L. King Family Album 2

WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 13: Children of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King III and Bernice Albertine King speak to reporters before the groundbreaking ceremony of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial November 13, 2006 in Washington, DC. The memorial has been in the works for 10 years and will be situated on the National Mall near the Tidal Basin between the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials.

Martin L. King Family Album 2

This is the kind of giving that makes the world go round. The money lesson is that it is important to realize that your own children may also have a degree of power and passion that you haven't yet recognized. It is quite likely that Charlie's parents taught him how to care about something greater than himself, which is the same spirit that drove the greatness of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Charlie's parents also taught him about the power of money and economic empowerment, well, at least it appears that way. It's great that the boy used that knowledge to empower others.

Don't be afraid to allow your own children to be great. They might surprise you.