15-year-old autistic boy gets lifetime supply of favorite peanut butter, shares with furloughed workers

Fifteen-year-old Eric "Bean" McKay loves peanut butter so much, he eats PB&J on an English muffin for all three meals every single day. So when Lidl peanut butter went on sale for 78 cents, his mom stocked up with 72 jars.

"Like many kids with autism, he's sensitive to textures and self-regulates his food," Bean's mom, Tracy, wrote on Twitter. The Virginia teen was thrilled by the amount of peanut butter the family had and accepted the challenge of finishing 72 jars.

Bean labeled each jar with a number. It took him nearly a year to get through all of them, but he finally got to jar number 72 in October. The teen then tweeted to the grocery store chain about his peanut butter feat. 

Bean explained that he finished all of the jars his mom bought, adding: "My mom says it's time for you to have another peanut butter sale."

The tweet got Lidl's attention, and they told Bean if he could get 72,000 retweets, representing the 72 jars of peanut butter, the company would give him a lifetime supply. In the meantime, Lidl sent 72 more jars to tide him over.

Bean got to work on his new goal of reaching 72,000 retweets. After about three months, Bean not only hit the goal, he exceeded it — he currently has 76,000 retweets on his initial tweet to Lidl. 

"Congrats Bean! We're over the moon that you reached your goal," Lidl tweeted to the teen. "The Lidl elves have just received a fresh shipment with your name on it! Could you stop by our warehouse tomorrow?"

Bean went to the Lidl warehouse in Fredericksburg, Virginia to claim his prize. The first batch he received is about 5 years' worth of peanut butter, WTOP reports. Even Bean, who loves peanut butter and eats it for every meal, knows that's an insane amount of the sweet spread. So he decided to give away some of his supply.

The teen's dad is a federal government worker who is currently furloughed during the shutdown, which inspired Bean to donate some of the jars of Lidl's peanut butter to other furloughed workers. As a result, any federal employee who is not being paid because of the government shutdown can pick up three free jars of peanut butter at the Lidl store in Dumfries, Virginia. 

Bean and his mom went to the store on Wednesday to hand out jars to furloughed workers. Bean is already head over heels about peanut butter — in fact, he's now famous for it — and now he's able to spread some love with his favorite food.