Missouri Mom Offers to Pay For Friends For Her Son And The Internet Wholesomely Came Through

You guys, I'm adult. I know how it is out there.

It can be hard to make friends as an adult!  I mean, you're tired at the end of the work day, right? So you just wanna go home and relax.  But going home and relaxing, while amazing, doesn't necessarily get you out there and meeting new people.  How can you find friends as an adult, anyway?  It's not like you can just hang out in public spaces holding up a sign that says "Friendship Available".

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Well, a Missouri Mom....did something very similar to that this month.  And it turned out, the internet came through for her in a big way.  Here's the story.

Donna Herter is a nurse in St Charles. She has a son, Charles, who is a 24 year old man living with Down Syndrome.  Donna saw from time to time that friends would say they could come by to hang out with him, but... a lot of times life happened, and they just flaked on him.  And yeah, he had family who wanted to spend time with him too, but you know how it is.  Sometimes a young man just needs to spend time with dudes his own age. So she decided she'd get this done herself.  She took to Facebook looking to PAY someone to hang out with him, as a friend.

I’m looking for a young man, between the ages of 20-28 who would like to make some extra money. Two days a month for two hours, I’ll pay you to be my son’s friend. All you have to do is sit with him and play video games in his room. Nothing else. He’s 24 and has Down Syndrome and doesn’t have any friends his age. You will not be alone with him, myself or his grandpa will be home. Obviously he won’t know you are getting paid, but that you are there for him those 2 days. The pay is $80 for 2 hours. It can be in Troy or St. Charles which ever is closer for you. Please message me, thank you! PS: Getting paid is not optional. The reason I’m paying is to guarantee you show up. He’s had many people tell him “Someday I’ll visit” and they never do.

Well.  The response was HUGE. Within 24 hours, he had over 4000 friend requests (which is huge for anybody,  but Christian can't read, so his Mom was handling it). He's into video games, so a nonprofit got involved on Saturday, and gave him a new 65-inch TV.  Now he keeps asking his parents if they're jealous, because he has so many friends.  So many people want to game with him or send him gifts, and he's all over the news.  He's even going national! The story even made it to People Magazine.

And you can become Christian's friend, too!  You can send him a letter and his Grandpa or his Mom will read it to him. If you need to send a package, you can do that, too. Here's the deets.

For letters:  Christian Bowers