BALLWIN, Mo. — A St. Louis native turned social media influencer is doing his part to help the family of a fallen hero.
Trevor Abney spends his life bringing people together through social media.
"Using my platform for good is the reason I have a platform in the first place,” said Trevor Abney.
As Abney watched the dignified transfer of LCpl. Jared Schmitz, he knew he had to help his family.
"That kid is two years younger than me,” said Abney. “He lost his life way too early in a way that he should've never lost his life, but he's a hero for it."
The TikTok star put out a plea to his 2.6-million followers asking for help and slowly donations, big and small starting trickling in.
"Most of the donations are $.25 or $1.00,” said Abney. “There was one $50 donation and I think other than that the next biggest one was $5.
People from all over the world are chipping in to help Abney raise money for the Schmitz family.
"The response was great,” said Abney. “A lot of people are saying for our fallen soldier. A lot of people are saying ‘I'm a Marine too, my dad was a marine, my brother was a Marine.’ It's cool to see all of those military backgrounds coming together and donating. I try to respond to everyone that donates to say thank you!"
A simple gesture that Abney hopes will allow the Schmitz family to properly mourn their son.
"There's no amount of money that can bring their son back,” said Abney. “There's no amount of money that is going to repay what they lost, but if I can help in any way then that's what I want to do."
Abney plans to accept donations for the next several days and will double any donation up to $2000.
He's hoping he can hand deliver those donations to the Schmitz family so that he can personally say thank you for their son's service.
You can donate money to Abney’s fund for the Schmitz family through the following apps by specifying the Schmitz family.
Venmo: TrevorAbney
CashApp: $TrevorAbney1
PayPal: tjabney@chartner.net