7 minute read
A Little Boy with a Big Heart Sir Darius is a young man
A Little Boy with a Big Heart
By Pam Bonsper
I
n the late summer of 2017, back-to-back hurricanes hit the Caribbean and the Gulf Coast causing widespread destruction, floods, and fatalities. Millions of people were affected and thousands of animals including wildlife, livestock, and pets were lost in the aftermath.
During those months, a young boy named Darius Brown (nicknamed Sir Darius) witnessed the horrors of the hurricanes and thought a lot about the animals who ended up in shelters. He wished he could do something to help them.
But Sir Darius was only ten years old. A little boy who had been diagnosed at age two with speech comprehension difficulties and fine-motor delays, he was hardly in a position to do much. He lived with his mom, Joy, and his older sister, Dazhai, in an apartment in Newark, New Jersey. Although he kept thinking about the dogs in shelters who had survived the storms and craved having a dog himself, pets were not allowed in their apartment and it seemed impossible to do anything to help.
There was something Sir Darius loved to do, and he had been doing it since he was eight. He loved to watch his sister sew and he enjoyed the sound of the sewing machine. He would pull up a chair and sit right beside Dazhai as she busily zipped through yards of fabric, sewing items for her cheerleading team and later making items for her own little business. His therapists encouraged his eagerness to engage with his sister; he would learn by mimicking her.
After many months, Darius started bugging his mom to let him use a pair of scissors. So, she got some safety scissors and Dazhai began teaching him to use the sewing machine.
“She taught me to make bows,” he explained to me during a phone interview. “But I’m a boy! I couldn’t wear bows in my hair. So my sister sewed the bows to straps and turned them into bowties. Then I started doing what she was doing: I started my own little business of selling bowties. And that’s when the hurricanes hit.”
Darius drops his voice. “I was really hurt when I saw how terrible things were and how the dogs were being transferred to shelters in New York. I started to think—I was making bowties for people— maybe I could just pivot and make them for dogs. If people can look better with bowties, then why can’t dogs?”
Sir Darius began sewing away and taking his bowties to animal shelters. “It really hurt me when I heard the dogs might be euthanized if no one adopted them,” he explained. “So I made it my mission to help as many dogs as possible to look their best. I know a bowtie makes me look better and it works the same way with dogs. Maybe they’d have a better chance of getting adopted.”
Fast forward to today, and Sir Darius’s mission has not only become a reality but has catapulted him into international fame. His focus has always been on the dogs and making them look their best. “When I go to shelters and play with the dogs, my heart becomes a heart of joy,” he explains. “It inspires me to make more and more bowties and donate them. I love seeing the dogs in their bowties. It’s important how adorable and fashionable it makes them,” he continues. “The shelters tell me they really help; they have a big effect on people. I know they work because all the dogs with my bowties get adopted.”
Because it matters so much, Sir Darius puts great thought into the bowties themselves. He uses bright colors and unique prints, tries different patterns, and does silly things like “putting really big bowties on tiny dogs.”
When Sir Darius says, “the shelters,” he means the many, many shelters he has donated his bowties to. In the past four and a half years he and his mom have gone to numerous shelters in four states. In 2022 they will go to 25–27 shelters in 15 states. He can barely keep up with the demand and is looking for a manufacturer to help him out. I was interviewing him while he was home from boarding school for a few days in November. As soon as I hung up, I knew he would be right back at the machine sewing away.
I asked Sir Darius about his future plans. “I want to make sure to finish high school and go to college. I’d like to be a business lawyer to help minority businesses. I’d also like to have a boarding house for dogs so people can come and spend some time with the dog they want to adopt. And I want to keep spreading awareness. And someday I look forward to having my own dog. I want to have lots of dogs!”
Here are just a few highlights of Sir Darius’s life since he began his project less than five years ago.
In 2018, President Obama wrote him a letter of congratulations. In 2019, his mission went viral on social media, and he set up a Go Fund Me account and started Sir Darius’s PAW-SOME Mission. In 2020, he was recognized as the Go Fund Me Kid Hero and went to California to donate his bowties to The Barking Lot Shelter. Also in 2020, he was named an ambassador to the ASPCA. He has sent his bowties to every one of the fifty states and even to the UK and Thailand. He is now beginning to work with a shelter in Greece.
It doesn’t stop there. Sir Darius has received the Presidential Volunteer Service Award, the Daily Points of Light Award, the Hero to Animals Award from PETA, the (Princess) Diana Award, the New Jersey State Prudential Spirit of Community award as an honoree, and many awards from shelters.
Two days before our interview, Darius’s mom received word that he was just selected to be one of 100 Global Child Prodigies of the World and will receive his award at a celebration in 2022 in Dubai.
All this in less than five years! From a kid with learning delays. From a kid who loved dogs but couldn’t have one. From a little kid with a big heart who saw a need and did something about it.
If only all of us could pivot and do a fraction of what Sir Darius has done. Perhaps helping him in his mission is a place to start: Go to Gofundme.com and search for Sir Darius.
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