Adorable third grader donates school supplies to kindergartners in honor of deceased brother

Greyson Brooks may just be 8 years old, but he is already proving to be a thoughtful young man with a heart of gold. The third grader recently came up with a heartwarming way to honor his late brother, Wyatt, who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) at 4 months old in 2017. "He doesn't want Wyatt to be forgotten," Greyson and Wyatt's mom, Destiny Hayes, told TODAY. She revealed that her oldest started carrying a framed photo of his younger brother—who he calls Bubba—after he passed away. "Greyson was 3 at the time and he was always asking where Wyatt was and when he was coming back," Hayes shared.

"Wyatt was just this super duper sweet baby," the 33-year-old added. Hayes, who also has a 3-year-old daughter named Hazel, admitted that she was feeling downcast this back-to-school season as she prepared one backpack instead of two. 2022 would've been the year Greyson and Wyatt took the school bus together for the first time. "I never got to hear Wyatt say, 'Mama,' and I wonder what he would look like now," Hayes shared. "I have a nephew who was born a few weeks after Wyatt, and every time he hits a different milestone, it brings up feelings."

Fortunately, Greyson came up with the perfect idea to honor his late brother and make his mom feel better. The youngster last month delivered $350 worth of supplies to Estes Elementary School in Owensboro, Kentucky, with the request that the crayons, markers and writing paper be used by incoming kindergartners as that's the class Wyatt would have been in. "I did it for my brother who passed away at 4 months old," Greyson told Messenger-Inquirer. "I wanted to donate the supplies to help the whole school."

With the help of his parents, Greyson organized an online fundraiser to raise money for the kindergarten school supplies. "It makes me really, really happy," the boy said. "I've been thinking about it, and then I got the idea and told it to my mom, and then we did it. We brought lots of paper, crayons, erasers and more stuff." She was proud of him when Greyson came to her with this sweet idea to honor Wyatt, Hayes shared. "Nobody likes losing a baby, but if it's something we can continue to do in his name, we would absolutely want to keep doing this," she said.

"He's a super-duper sweet kid, and we're just proud he wants to help everybody," Hayes said of Greyson. "He's only 8, but he knows there are people out there struggling." She revealed that the boy walked up and down the aisles selecting items he thought Wyatt would approve of. "I'm so proud of him. He went and picked out all the stuff himself," Hayes shared. "Any time he's doing something fun, he'll say, 'Bubba would like this.'" Ryan Williams, principal of Estes Elementary School, praised Greyson for what he did for the school community. "He has a big heart," Williams said, "and we need more people like him in this world."