‘This Christmas meant so much’: Community gifts car to Sumner County teen

SUMNER COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A young Sumner County man received a car for Christmas thanks to several community members. With his own means of transportation, a positive road lies ahead.

Levi Sharpe, 18, recently graduated from Beech High School.

“When I was growing up, I didn’t really have much,” Sharpe said. “My family didn’t really treat me right.”

Sharpe found a lifelong friend in school resource officer, Jason Ghee.

“Levi and I just became friends in the mornings, talking,” Ghee said. “Eventually he would come up and eat lunch with me every day.”

His former teacher, Wendy Lee, was also close with Sharpe.

“This Christmas meant so much,” Lee said. “It’s about Levi and it’s about all the other kids that just need that extra support. They just need somewhere to know that they can sit at a dinner table and they’re loved and our community showed that this year.”

Sharpe aged out of foster care this year. As of publication, he works at a Hermitage bowling alley. Before getting this car, he found rides when he could. The community decided to help Sharpe out by pulling together enough money to gift him a car and more.

“It blew my mind,” Sharpe said. “I broke down in tears. It was a lot of emotions.”

Levi picked up his set of wheels this week, but he wanted to give back, too. He donated the extra $2,000 raised for his car to I Got Your Six Ministry, which helped him in foster care.

“I just want to give back to the people that gave me hope, gave me a purpose, gave me something to look up to and look forward to for the next 10, 15, 20 years — ’til the day that I die,” Sharpe said.

Sharpe told News 2 he hopes to become a mechanic. If you want to donate, you can send money through Venmo to @Jason-Ghee-2.