Colton community rallies around bullied student with autism

COLTON, Calif. (KABC) -- A Colton middle school student with autism, who was allegedly the target of incessant bullying at school, is getting love and support from the community in other ways all thanks to social media.

"Every time when I start school, I've been bullied," Samuel Aragon, 13, said. "I just want the bullying to stop."

Aragon's mother, Desiree Reyes, said her son was particularly troubled by a recent incident, in which her son's Nike shoes were stolen. The black and white Air Jordans were allegedly stolen from his locker by a classmate.

"It's not fair for kids who don't speak up, or can't speak up, because their voices can't be heard," Reyes said.

Furious, Reyes posted a request for help on Facebook, alerting parents to what happened.

But what happened next was a surprise. The community raised $215 to buy her son a new pair of shoes. The effort was spearheaded by Colton resident Daniella Chavez.

"There's so many negative things going on in the world," Chavez said. "We wanted to start here to bring some kind of change."

Chavez collected the money and met Samuel and his family at the Warehouse Shoe Sale store in Colton to purchase the shoes.

That's when the next surprise came: the store agreed to purchase another set of shoes for Samuel, as well as an entire outfit.

Samuel smiled and high-fived the people who helped make it happen, as his mom wiped away tears of joy.

"We have a good community," said Reyes. "I'm just blessed. Just blessed."