2 weeks Ago
Kelvin Ellis Jr., Matt Busbice and Kelvin Ellis Sr. sit on the steps of the Ellis home front porch in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Around this time last year, 9-year-old Kelvin Ellis Jr. received $20 for his good grades. He had spent $19 and was waiting for his dad, Kelvin Ellis Sr.
, who was at the optometrist. Young Kelvin walked to a CC’s Coffee House next door, where he spotted a man. “Excuse me sir, are you homeless?” he said to the man.
“'Cuz if you are, here’s a dollar.” The man, as it turns out, was not homeless. But touched by this act of generosity, he offered to buy Kelvin Jr.
breakfast. After getting the OK from his dad, the pair sat down and ate together. The new friends were reunited for a segment on WBRZ where Sylvia Weatherspoon revealed who the man was: Matt Busbice, a reality TV show star and multimillion dollar business owner.
From there, "CBS Sunday Morning" did a segment on the unlikely friendship. Kelvin Jr. and Busbice chatted again, and Busbice gifted him with a shopping spree at his store, Buckfeather, where Kelvin Jr.
picked out a $2,000 bike, among other things. Kelvin Ellis Jr. shows off one of his dad’s first place fishing awards while Matt Busbice asks him questions about his achievements at Kelvin Ellis Sr.
’s home in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. A year later, Busbice and Kelvin Jr. are still friends, and they’re hoping to do something to help those experiencing housing insecurity in Baton Rouge.
'It hits you, and it humbles you' Busbice said that he’s still routinely recognized by people in Baton Rouge, and he knows it’s because of what happened with Kelvin Jr. He said that people don’t simply say hello. Instead, they come up and offer him a dollar.
“ I'm making a living off this now,” he quipped. He thinks it’s funny, and plus, Busbice believes the story of how he and Kelvin Jr. met was sent from God.
Though he was initially taken aback by being mistaken as homeless, he leans into it now. “ The first thing that goes through your mind is, 'Wait a minute, how bad do I look?'” he said. “It hits you, and it humbles you.
” Matt Busbice, left, and Kelvin Ellis Jr. play with a football at the Ellis home in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. But he said the incident bolstered his faith in humanity.
“When he offered me that dollar thinking I was homeless, I said, ‘Wow. There's hope in this world,’” Busbice said. Over the past year, they’ve kept in touch.
Kelvin Jr. and his father meet up with Busbice when he’s in town, and when he’s not, they text. Over Christmas break, Busbice and Kelvin Jr.
went to Winn-Dixie, hoping to surprise people and anonymously pay for their groceries. The plan was a little complicated by the fact that they got recognized, but it’s a sweet memory for Busbice. “That story (of their meeting) went around the world,” Busbice recalled telling Kelvin Jr.
during a recent time they were hanging out. “(But) have we really done anything with the story other than, you know, it's fun to spread God's love through it? It's crazy that it happened, and it reached so many people. It made 'em laugh and cry and all the things.
” Matt Busbice, left, smiles as Kelvin Ellis Jr. explains how the phone mount of his Accubow bow is broken at the Ellis home in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. Busbice helped launch the Accubow company, which specializes in using virtual reality to help train archers.
But Busbice pointed out that the attention that they got as a result has yet to actually benefit people experiencing housing insecurity. Collaboration to benefit Baton Rouge According to the city’s Point in Time counts for the last few years, Baton Rouge has more than 400 people who experience homelessness during a single night in January. But this number doesn’t account for those who have lost their homes and are living with family or friends or in halfway houses.
According to Capital Area United Way , as of 2022, 50% of East Baton Rouge Parish residents are either living in poverty or below what is called the ALICE threshold, which puts them at risk of homelessness if a car breaks down or they miss a paycheck. (ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.) “Your heart was to help a homeless man that happened to be, and I wasn’t homeless,” Busbice recalled saying to Kelvin Jr.
“Do you still have a heart to help the homeless?” Kelvin Jr. readily agreed. The two are now in talks with the Christian Outreach Center of Baton Rouge to figure out how they can collaborate in the future.
Both the Ellises and Busbice have had separate meetings with Brian Sleeth, the executive director. The next step, Sleeth said, is to work out details together. Seen through the reflection of 2 mirrors, customer Cierra Stone browses the home decor section of The Purple Cow thrift store on Tuesday, March 5, 2024.
The center runs the Purple Cow thrift stores around town, and it also provides essential services such as bus passes, hygiene kits and more to those who are food insecure. On Wednesdays, the center provides home-delivered supplemental groceries to 435 households in north Baton Rouge. People enrolled in the grocery assistance program are also provided with financial education classes through a program.
“I look forward to incorporating them — however they want to plug in — with what we’re currently doing,” Sleeth said. “I’m excited about the fact that someone who’s so young feels drawn to want to make a difference and contribute.” Sleeth works to help those facing housing insecurity after experiencing it himself.
In 2009, he left the state with his family to plant a church in Michigan, but after the recession hit, they lost everything and returned to Baton Rouge to live with family. Given this experience, he said, seeing a young person be proactive and reach out to someone he thought was homeless and strike up a friendship was exciting. Kelvin Ellis Jr.
plays with one of his favorite action figures, a model of King Kong gifted to him by Matt Busbice, as his father, Kelvin Ellis Sr., speaks during an interview at their Baton Rouge home on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. “What I experienced in my situation is that I had sort of the reverse: a loss of friendships because of people feeling awkward and not knowing what to say,” he said.
More than meets the eye In many ways, Kelvin Jr. is an ordinary kid. He has a messy room, he’s a big fan of action figures, and when asked if he likes school, he freezes with the conflicting knowledge that you’re not supposed to say no and that it’s bad to lie.
But, as Sleeth and Busbice noted, there’s more to him than meets the eye. He values helping people, and he takes joy in the little things in life. Some kids want $500 gaming consoles, Ellis said, but if Kelvin Jr.
can buy two action figures, it’s like he’s won a million bucks. When asked, Kelvin Jr. said his favorite memory with Busbice is when Busbice took him to Barnes and Noble for his birthday earlier this year.
He was told he could pick out anything he wanted in the whole store, and after walking around, carefully weighing his options, he picked a King Kong action figure that fits comfortably in his hand. Matt Busbice teases Kelvin Ellis Jr. about having a messy room as the 10-year-old looks for his Accubow Virtual Archery bow on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.
“ It didn't come with the scar, but I added the scar to make it look cool,” he said while brandishing his new toy. Busbice was shocked that the small toy represented Kelvin Jr.'s favorite memory.
“What about that bike?” he asked. Willing to give his last dollar Kelvin Jr. has ambitions to one day work in the toy industry himself, making hyper-realistic toys that can be props in movies.
Busbice has been mentoring him in business and sales, and Kelvin Jr. has even worked in his store on Perkins Rowe to help sell bows. This summer, he's going to camp at Tara Wildlife in Mississippi to learn to hunt and get his hunter safety certificate.
After that, Busbice hopes to take him hunting on his family’s ranch. Theirs is a sweet friendship, which Busbice said will last for life, but according to Ellis, to leave it there misses the point. He said most people misinterpret the meaning of the story of his son giving the dollar to the millionaire.
He said the interaction was a lot more than that. “God used my son to send a message," he said. "If a 9-year-old kid's willing to give his last dollar, then why can't we as adults — as people — be more courteous to each other and love each other the way He loves us all?” If you'd like to join Kelvin Jr.
and Busbice in partnering with the Christian Outreach Center, they are always looking for volunteers. Find out more about their programs and work at christianoutreachcenterbr.com/ .
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