Monte Scott fixed the potholes by filling them with dirt
CNN  — 

A civic-minded 12-year-old boy took it upon himself to fill the many potholes plaguing his street.

Monte Scott stepped up after his mother’s and grandmother’s cars got flat tires on the road in Muskegon Heights, Michigan, his mother, Trinell Payne, told CNN.

“They had a half-day off at school, so he was out for the afternoon,” she said. “He took a shovel and a garbage can full of dirt from our garden and started filling the holes.”

She said Monte filled 15 to 20 of the roughly 50 potholes on the street in a few hours.

“He went back the next day to fill more,” she added.

She posted a video on Facebook showing the boy filling the holes.

“I love my son. He has a heart of gold,” the video caption says.

A passer-by can be heard telling Monte: “You’re gonna be something, too. You’re a hard worker.”

Payne said she isn’t surprised by her son’s initiative. “He’s that type of kid,” she said. “He’s always had a big heart, always wanted to help by shoveling snow, raking leaves, going to the grocery store for his grandma.”

Monte told CNN affiliate WXMI, “I just didn’t want anyone else to get a flat tire.”

He suggested that workers “tear the whole street up and use concrete” to fill the holes. “It might cost more, but it’ll last longer.”

The boy called his dirt-filling action “a Band Aid” that doesn’t stay long.

Mayor Kimberley Sims lauded Monte’s efforts in an interview with the Detroit Free Press. It’s sad that “the problem is so bad that he feels he has to do that,” she added. “He’s 12. He should be getting ready for school the next day, or playing video games.”

She and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are set to meet Monte this week, Payne and WXMI reported.

And, added the proud mother, a crew showed up to fix the potholes for good after her video went viral.