Elijah Gibson lost his hand in a fireworks accident, but that hasn’t stopped him from building a small business with his brother, scrubbing out neighbors’ trash cans across their Perris neighborhood three times a week. Elijah, 16, and his brother Rhyan now count roughly 20 customers who pay them to clean their bins, using the earnings to help cover school expenses while they figure out how to move forward after the accident.
The brothers launched their trash bin cleaning service about a year and a half ago, according to NBC Los Angeles, which described the two as working toward self-sufficiency after surviving a devastating fireworks accident. Reporter Christian Cázares detailed how the brothers lean on social media to keep their small operation running and attract new customers in the neighborhood.
Their grandmother, Sherrie Hill, said the brothers set their own hours and choose their own customers, running things largely on their own terms. Hill said she stepped in to prevent the brothers from ending up on the streets, and she provided medical attention and family support to Elijah after the accident that cost him his hand. She said she is very proud of what the two have built.
Full-Time Students Balancing School and a Growing Client List
Elijah and Rhyan are both full-time students at Rancho Verde High School, a Val Verde Unified School District campus that opened in 1991 and serves over 2,050 students on a 38-acre site in southern Moreno Valley, according to Wikipedia. The brothers run their bin-washing service around their classes, working the business three days a week…