Franklin boy wows millions online with handsewn shirt for his dad
FRANKLIN - If you have been on social media since the weekend, it's highly likely you have seen a video of a young boy delivering a shirt he sewed himself for his father. The video has more than 13 million views on social media.
That nine-year-old boy you see beaming with pride in the viral video is Franklin's own Sam Gouveia.
"I've got a shirt that I made in sewing class," you can hear Sam tell his dad as he delivers the shirt in the video. "Holy crap. For me?" His dad replies.
Sam tells WBZ he loves sewing, because "when I get to see something that I made, it feels like I accomplished something, and I really like that feeling."
His dad posted the video Sunday afternoon because he thought it was so sweet. He wore his brand-new shirt gifted from his middle son out to dinner, and as the family sat at a restaurant, dad's phone began blowing up as the video went viral.
The confident nine-year-old you see in the post has come a long way from his first experience with bullying back in kindergarten. "First of all, the kids at school, a lot of them would say that's not good," Sam told WBZ. "Why do you wear nail polish? Why do you sew? It's weird. That's for girls," they would say.
"He came home, and he was crushed, and frankly we were crushed too," his dad, Aaron told WBZ.
That young boy's first experience with shame began a years-long journey to self-love and acceptance, from supportive parents to their son.
"They told me that anyone can do anything," Sam said. "Whether it's skin color, gender, or anything."
By his ninth birthday, Sam's confidence broke through the small screens of millions of cell phones with his first viral video as he received a sewing machine as a surprise birthday gift.
Six months later, he was viral again with that gift to his father: a shirt he spent six weeks in sewing class hand making.
Sam is the only boy in his sewing class, a fact that doesn't even make him bat an eyelash. "It doesn't really matter to me you know because anyone can do it, that's what I think," he said.
He's been sent fabric from fans around the world to encourage him to pursue his dreams, and his parents have received thousands of messages of support.
"Sometimes as parents, you don't get that validation," Sam's mother MJ Gouveia told WBZ. "You get to see [your kids] struggle, and not succeed, which only breaks your heart, and when you do see them succeed, you just want to capture it, and bottle it."
Capturing and bottling that joy is exactly what Sam's father does with his social media posts. "I think in the end, it's just a human aspect of it," his father, Aaron said. "It's seeing somebody do something they love, especially a kid at a young age, and doing it without shame. That is pretty amazing."
Sam's advice to everyone? "You can do anything if you be yourself."