A Whitehall resident who went viral after anonymously receiving thousands of dollars for a pop-up food pantry is drawing new attention \u2014 including a message from \u201cBoy Meets World\u201d actor William Daniels.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, AJ Owen, who had operated a food pantry outside his home<\/a> since November, posted another viral TikTok saying Daniels, who played beloved teacher Mr. Feeney, sent him a video.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if the universe is messing with me, but I took the food pantry down and gave a lot of food to a lot of good families, and then I checked my email when I got back inside, like after I got settled and was sent this,\u201d Owens said in the TikTok video before cutting to a clip of the 99 year old actor sitting in a chair.<\/p>\n In the video Daniels said the work that Owens was doing was \u201cmarvelous.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe work you\u2019re doing is vital, not only because you\u2019re feeding people in need, but also because you\u2019re setting an important example so that others can see what is possible,\u201d Daniels said in the clip.<\/p>\n By Friday the post had more than 26,900 views and more than 800 comments.<\/p>\n Owens, who is 36 and a single father, started the pantry to help people in fear of losing support from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and as an opportunity to teach his kids \u2014 who were ages 7 and 9 \u2014 a life lesson.<\/p>\n Owens\u2019 original post has now gained more than 4.5 million likes since he first posted about receiving<\/a> an anonymous donation in his mailbox<\/a> to help support his pantry\u2019s growing popularity.<\/p>\n He told a TribLive reporter in November that he never meant to go viral, but was happy to see his video was inspiring others to start their own community food pantries.<\/p>\n Owens could not immediately be reached for comment about Daniels\u2019 video message on Friday.<\/p>\n In the video Daniels left Owens with some inspirational words.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope you continue to live by the words of George Feeney \u2014 believe in yourself. Dream, try and do good. Good luck and best wishes,\u201d Daniels said.<\/p>\n\n