+
More

Cops were called on him — for mowing a lawn. Now his business is booming.

On June 23, Lucille Holt spotted a boy named Reggie and his siblings outside a dollar store with lawn care equipment.

"To see him with everything, to be that equipped, it caught my attention," the 51-year-old told BuzzFeed News.

She asked Reggie and his siblings if they'd be interested in mowing her lawn in Maple Heights, Ohio, just south of Cleveland. They agreed.

[rebelmouse-image 19397411 dam="1" original_size="534x727" caption="Reggie and his little brother. All photos courtesy of Mr. Reggie's Lawn Cutting Service." expand=1]Reggie and his little brother. All photos courtesy of Mr. Reggie's Lawn Cutting Service.


So impressed by their work ethic, Holt took a video of them from her front door. In it, she commented that "he's struggling a little" as Reggie pushed the mower over a bump in the grass. "But he's doing his thing." That's when things took a turn.

A neighbor saw Reggie and his siblings in action. And she called the police.

The neighbor, a white woman, had been concerned the kids were trespassing on her property.

"Who does that?" Holt is heard saying in another video she recorded after the police arrived, claiming the neighbor once called the police because her kids were throwing snowballs. “Who calls the police for everything?

White people, apparently.

The incident in Maple Heights is just the latest in a string of stories documenting white people calling the police on black people for doing mundane things. In June, "Permit Patty" called the cops on an 8-year-old black girl for selling water outside her apartment building. Earlier this spring, "BBQ Becky" reported a group of black people lawfully having a cookout in a public park. In April, a Philadelphia Starbucks employee infamously called the police on two black men for visiting the store without immediately purchasing any food or drinks.

(White people, we seriously need to get it together.)

Similarly to these other incidents, Reggie's story started spreading far and wide. And lots of people were outraged.

Reggie's mom shared Holt's video on Facebook, adding that "this is what happens when your kids are doing positive things in Maple [Heights]. The police show up."

Fortunately, plenty of people in Ohio — and across the country — turned that outrage into positive action.

Knowing Reggie had wanted to expand his lawn-cutting business, Holt launched a GoFundme page.

It started with just a $1,000 goal for Reggie to get a shed to store his equipment and to buy other lawn supplies. But since its launch, more than $37,000 has been raised.

The comment section, by the way, is pure delight.

"What an amazing young man!" one supporter wrote. "You’re an inspiration! Good luck."

"Please don't let small-minded, petty people ruin your spirit," a supporter noted. "You are a good kid with a good work ethic and a bright future. You can help change the world for the better."

"Way to go kiddos!!!!!" another chimed in. "Don't let anyone or anything ever get into the way of your dreams!!!"

The funds are helping transform Mr. Reggie's Lawn Cutting Service into a flourishing business serving the Cleveland area.

The business' Facebook page is filled with glowing reviews, videos of Reggie and his siblings putting in the work, and before-and-after shots of the lawns Reggie's mowed.

"I'm so very proud of my son," Reggie's mom told Fox 13 News. "I think it is so amazing how everyone is so supportive from all over the country."

A Maple Heights police officer visited Reggie to congratulate him on his business success.

She said all the support has inspired Reggie to dream bigger — once focused solely on mowing grass, the 12-year-old now hopes to expand his business to include raking leaves in the fall and snow-blowing during winter.

Reggie says he wants to turn all this positivity into actual results.

"I just want to thank everyone for all the kind words and all the support," he says. "It really makes me want to succeed."

Learn more about Mr. Reggie's Lawn Cutting Service on Facebook.

All photos courtesy of The Coca-Cola Company

Behind the Scenes Making Recycled Records with Mark Ronson

True

You’re walking down the sidewalk, earbuds in, listening to your favorite hip-hop beats. As your head bobs to the sounds, the sun warms your back. It’s a perfect day.

When the chorus hits, the empty Sprite bottle in your hand becomes a drumstick, passing traffic becomes a sea of concertgoers, and the concrete beneath your feet is suddenly a stage. Spinning on your heels, you close out the song with your face to the sky and hands in the air.

Keep ReadingShow less
@penslucero/TikTok

Pency Lucero taking in the Northern Lights

Seeing the northern lights is a common bucket list adventure for many people. After all, it ticks a lot of boxes—being a dazzling light show, rich historical experience and scientific phenomenon all rolled into one. Plus there’s the uncertainty of it all, never quite knowing if you’ll witness a vivid streak of otherworldly colors dance across the sky…or simply see an oddly colored cloud. It’s nature’s slot machine, if you will.

Traveler and content creator Pency Lucero was willing to take that gamble. After thorough research, she stumbled upon an Airbnb in Rörbäck, Sweden with an actual picture of the northern lights shining above the cabin in the listing. With that kind of photo evidence, she felt good about her odds.

However, as soon as she landed, snow began falling so hard that the entire sky was “barely visible,” she told Upworthy. Martin, the Airbnb host, was nonetheless determined to do everything he could to ensure his guests got to see the spectacle, even offering to wake Lucero up in the middle of the night if he saw anything.

Then one night, the knock came.

Keep ReadingShow less
Democracy

Reporter reveals she's a school shooting survivor on air and offers advice to Covenant parents

Even while struggling through her own grief, she was able to provide guidance to parents.

Photo by Heather Mount on Unsplash

Tennessee reporter and school shooting survivor gives advice to parents.

On March 27, the Covenant School, a private elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, experienced a school shooting where three 9-year-old children and three staff members lost their lives. The news of the event took over the airwaves as more details were released.

But for one reporter covering the shooting live, the event hit close to home in more than one way. Joylyn Bukovac, a local reporter for WSMV 4, was reporting live from the scene at the Covenant School when she revealed that she was a survivor of a school shooting herself. Bukovac explained that when she was in the eighth grade, someone opened fire at her school.

"About 380 school shootings have happened since Columbine, my middle school being one of them, this school being one of them," she said. "Some people have been reaching out to me saying, 'Enough's enough. When is all of this gun violence going to change?'"

Keep ReadingShow less

Delivering packages AND safety.

Amazon delivery drivers don’t have the easiest job in the world. Sitting through traffic, working in extreme temperatures, hauling boxes … not exactly a fun time. So when a driver goes out of their way to be extra considerate—people notice.

One delivery driver has gone viral for the way she delivered a little bit of safety education, along with some lighthearted advice. The TikTok video of the encounter, which now has more than 4 million views, was shared by Jessica Huseman, who had only recently moved into her new house.

Keep ReadingShow less
Education

Germany's most famous castle isn't a real castle. It's an elaborate 'work of fan fiction.'

Though it looks medieval, it was built in the 19th century by an eccentric "fairy tale king" who spent much of his life constructing his own elaborate fantasy world.

Neuschwanstein Castle sits atop a rock ledge in the Bavarian Alps.

Even if you haven't heard of Neuschwanstein Castle, there's a good chance you've at least seen pictures of it. Set atop a tree-covered rock ledge in the Bavarian Alps, the picturesque castle looks like it was conjured straight out of a fairy tale. In fact, it served as inspiration for Disney Imagineers as they designed "Sleeping Beauty's Castle" in Disneyland, and it's regularly named the top castle to visit in Germany.

There are estimated to be around 25,000 castles in Germany, but Neuschwanstein is unique among them. Most notably, it's not a real castle and never was. While it bears the look and feel of a well-preserved medieval castle, it was actually built in the 19th century, and rather than serving as a fortress, it served as the fantasy castle of an eccentric king obsessed with Richard Wagner's operas and medieval mythology.

Ludwig II came to the Bavarian throne in 1864 at age 18 with no experience in government or politics. Two years later, Prussia conquered Austria and Bavaria, and Ludwig's powerful status as king was greatly diminished. Not that he was particularly interested in governance anyway; he was more drawn to the romantic idea of having his own kingdom.

Keep ReadingShow less
Image by sasint/Canva

Surgeons prepared to separate 3-year-old conjoined twins in Brazil using virtual reality.

The things human beings have figured out how to do boggles the mind sometimes, especially in the realm of medicine.

It wasn't terribly long ago that people with a severe injury had to liquor up, bite a stick, have a body part sewn up or sawed off and hope for the best. (Sorry for the visual, but it's true.) The discoveries of antibiotics and anesthesia alone have completely revolutionized human existence, but we've gone well beyond that with what our best surgeons can accomplish.

Surgeries can range from fairly simple to incredibly complex, but few surgeries are more complicated than separating conjoined twins with combined major organs. That's why the recent surgical separation of conjoined twin boys with fused brains in Brazil is so incredible.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

People share the 18 things that are a 'subtle sign' someone is really smart

"They effortlessly communicate complex concepts in a simple way."

Albert Einstein

One of the strangest things about being human is that people of lesser intelligence tend to overestimate how smart they are and people who are highly intelligent tend to underestimate how smart they are.

This is called the Dunning-Kruger effect and it’s proven every time you log onto Facebook and see someone from high school who thinks they know more about vaccines than a doctor.

The interesting thing is that even though people are poor judges of their own smarts, we’ve evolved to be pretty good at judging the intelligence of others.

Keep ReadingShow less