When a Guatemalan mother walked out on her four children, her farm worker husband had to raise them. He stayed home to care for his four-year-old daughter when she got the chickenpox, and lost his job. So he had to beg for food in the streets.

Students at Boynton Beach High School heard his story and took action. Victor Baten and over 10 others in his Spanish honors class gathered $200 for the family, as well as clothes, school supplies, and toys. They shipped four boxes to them and wired the money.

"I come from a family that lived in El Salvador, which is next door to Guatemala, and was very poor," Victor told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "We're living comfortably now, fortunately. I know these countries need help, so I thought why not help them? In the long run I'd like to give something back."

That spirit led the South Florida Sun-Sentinel to select him in July 2005 as a CHARACTER COUNTS! kid for kindness in the Palm Beach County School District.