WIXOM (WWJ) - A 5th grader in Wixom is hoping to restore his bus gaming business to its former glory with some new repairs after thieves broke into the bus and ransacked it for games and equipment on Thursday.
According to FOX 2, community donations came pouring in after Jaylen Staley, 11, and his mother, Brittani Stanley, posted to social media about the theft of Jaylen's Level Up Wit Jay gaming business two days ago.
Brittani said the business was all Jaylen's idea and she helps him where she is needed. The mom explained via FOX 2 that the theft was gut-wrenching to the mother-and-child-team as over 1,000 PlayStation 5 and Nintendo 64 games were stolen, many of which were Brittani's from when she was a child.
"Every single disc, every single (Nintendo) 64 game that I had as a child, 20 years ago, all gone," said Brittani to FOX 2.
"Some of that is priceless because they were from my childhood, and then some are newer that we just purchased."
The thieves also made off with the bus's inverter and power amplifier which supplies the mobile business its power.
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"They took a bunch of stuff, it was like, broken," Jaylen said of the incident.
According to Brittani, a malfunctioning gate at the secured storage facility where her son's gaming bus is kept allowed the thieves into the property and break into the vehicle.
"I was sad, I was mad, and I really didn't know what to think at the time," Jaylen said. "I just knew it was really sad for my Mom and my Nana."
Jaylen and his mother take the bus all over cities in Metro Detroit and make appearances at parties and special events.
Brittani said they managed to raise $3,000 in donations through social media, but they still need another $1,000 to help cover the costs of repairing the bus and replacing the stolen games, not including the cost of labor.
Brittani said her son's business first got started in March and had several events scheduled for this weekend. Because of the donations, Brittani said her son will be able to keep those engagements.
She told FOX 2 that it's been hard to wrap her head around why people would do this:
"And that’s the thing, we’re all really struggling at this point," Brittani said. "Gas and everything is so high that it just hurts that it happens to be my son’s business."
The break-in is under investigation with the Wixom Police Department.
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