His peers are calling him a hero after 11-year-old Matthew Olive surprised 31 members of Sanctuary House with tickets to a Greensboro Grasshoppers Game. Olive's mother, Julie, is a volunteer at Sanctuary House. Matthew was inspired by his mother's work with the organization and once he learned several of his new friends had not been to a baseball game - he made a choice to save up funds and sponsor the game himself.
On his own, Olive saved his allowance money and collected donations.
The sixth grader raised $650 to buy tickets. Following a tailgate celebration, the group went to the Grasshoppers Game with Olive on Monday July 18th. Olive said he's just happy that his plans worked out.
"Just lucky that we did it and everybody seems happy and I'm very thankful that everybody could make it," expressed Olive.
Matthew's mother said since his story first aired on WFMY, his friends now want to spend the rest of their summer doing other projects with him at the Sanctuary House.
Although the Greensboro Grasshoppers lost to the Asheville Tourists with a final score of 10 to 3, the spirit of the day remained high.
"I just love to see everybody else that's having fun too. Not just one person, but everybody," said Olive
Olive also set aside some of his raised money to buy his friends at Sanctuary House Grasshoppers souvenirs from the gift shop after the game.
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