A 12-year-old boy in Sand Springs walked up to a stranger's porch on Halloween night, found the candy bowl completely empty, and did something about it without telling a soul. Chance Dunaway dug into his own trick-or-treat bucket, dropped in two big scoops of candy, and kept walking — never expecting anyone would see what he'd done.
Chance found the bare bowl near 51st Street and 129th West Avenue around 9 p.m. while out trick-or-treating, according to News On 6. Rather than move on, he refilled it from his own stash before heading back up to the porch to trick-or-treat himself, ringing the bell and saying, “Trick or treat. Have a good night!” as the homeowner's doorbell camera rolled.
He had no idea the camera caught the whole thing. The next morning, a friend told him he was “Facebook famous,” and he quickly learned the clip had already racked up more than 110,000 views. Chance, dressed as the Cat in the Hat with fake blood for the holiday, said he wanted to read every comment that rolled in overnight.
His Mom Had No Idea Either
Stephanie Duncan, Chance's mother, said her son never mentioned what he'd done — she only found out because her phone started filling up with messages from friends and neighbors praising him. “I pulled it up, and I was like, oh my gosh, I'm so proud of him. It warms my heart,” she said, according to the same report. She added that both of her boys have kind souls, and that seeing the video reassured her she was doing something right as a parent.
Comments poured in not just from locals but from strangers across the country, the station's report notes. Chance said he wanted other kids to have a good Halloween too, explaining that he didn't want to be the only one enjoying the night. He also said he was thinking about parents he didn't even know: “I just wanted to help out the parents because you never know what they're going through.”
A Lesson He Says He Already Knew
Chance said the moment carried extra weight for him this year. “This is my last year as a kid. But next year I'll be a teenager. So this was like a big year,” he said. He credited his upbringing for the instinct to help without expecting recognition, saying, “I've always been taught to do something good when nobody's watching. That's like the main rule to know.”
He and his mother both said they hope the viral moment pushes other people to be kind and pay it forward. “I hope that, like, people can really see what it is to be kind. I mean, anyone can be kind. It just depends on you,” Chance said.
Not the Only Candy-Bowl Rescue This Season
Chance's gesture echoes similar moments captured on doorbell cameras elsewhere. In Waukee, Iowa, sixth-graders Avi Curtis and Liam Ireland refilled an emptied candy bowl with their own candy during a 2023 Beggars' Night and even stuck around to hand treats out to costumed kids who stopped by, as reported by KCCI. A home video doorbell caught that moment too.
In Pocatello, Idaho, 13-year-old Aspen Toane did something similar after doorbell footage showed earlier trick-or-treaters emptying a bowl outside homeowner Kimber Craig Shannon's door. Aspen and his mom restocked it with candy from home, and he told KPVI he was worried younger kids coming after him would be left disappointed. “It made me mad because there were a lot of kids after us,” he said. “If they didn't get candy, then they would kind of be upset and they were little kids.”
Back in Sand Springs, Chance's small act has already reached far beyond the porch where it happened. For one night, at least, a 12-year-old's instinct to do the right thing when he thought nobody was watching ended up being watched by well over 100,000 people.
