ORLANDO, Fla. — A teenager who survived a lightning strike said he is now making the most of his life by giving back to his community. 

Daniel Sharkey survived the scary experience last summer with no severe injuries. He’s now building on volunteer work he’s been doing since he was a child. 

What You Need To Know

  • In July, Sharkey got the scare of a lifetime when lightning struck a tree near where he was cutting a neighbor’s grass in his Altamonte Springs neighborhood

  • Sharkey survived the strike and was not seriously injured 

  • With Cans over Candy, Sharkey is collecting canned goods ge encourages people to leave on their porches for Halloween

Sharkey recently worked a double volunteer shift at Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida in Orlando, sorting and boxing up canned goods. It’s volunteer work that helps the food bank save millions of dollars each year, which is money that can then go to feeding more people.

“It’s just important to give back and give what you’re able to,” Sharkey said. “I just really love being able to give back to the community and help people.”

In July, Sharkey got the scare of a lifetime when lightning struck a tree near where he was cutting a neighbor’s grass in his Altamonte Springs neighborhood. Sharkey’s mother said she remembers the panic she felt when she learned what happened in a phone call from that neighbor.

“We got in our vehicle and zoomed over — faster than we probably should have — and then Daniel was laying on the ground,” Kelly Green Sharkey said.

But surviving the lightning strike wasn’t the first miracle in Sharkey’s life.

“I still cry when I think about it, because that was my kid — he was my miracle baby,” Green Sharkey said. “I had a 30% chance of ever having a child, and now here he is and now he’s a miracle twice. That’s pretty awesome.”

“I’m just really grateful,” Sharkey said. “It was a crazy series of events, and I’m so thankful to be alive.”

Sharkey said he learned about serving his community at a young age. It’s a family tradition to spend his mother’s birthday volunteering.

“I think this is the fourth or fifth year we have come to Second Harvest Food Bank to celebrate because, once upon a time, I was a hungry kid in Orlando,” Green Sharkey said.

Sharkey said he remembers when he first got a sense of what it’s like to give back, when he was just 5 years old.

“They’d load, like, three stacks of these above my head, and I’d just be kind of walking, and I couldn’t see where I was going," he said. "And I was like, 'This is fun'.”

Several years ago, Sharkey realized he had no desire to go trick-or-treating.

“Ever since I was little, I did not like candy," he said.

So instead, he encouraged his neighbors to collect cans and leave them on their front porch.

“It’s just grown exponentially every year,” Sharkey said.

With Cans over Candy, Sharkey said he collected a quarter ton of canned goods last year. He volunteers with several other organizations, and even recently helped storm victims clean up from devastating tornadoes in south Florida.

Sharkey said his close call made him even more determined to make the most of his life.

“I was already doing all of this before it happened, but it just gave me a new appreciation that I survived,” he said. “And I’m grateful I’m still here and able to keep giving back.”

Sharkey said he would like to see others hold can drives in their neighborhoods to help Second Harvest Food Bank. For more information on Cans over Candy, visit the organization's website.