This Dayton mom unwittingly accepted a challenge to take 30 kids to the movies -- and she doesn’t even know them

Credit: Photo: Samil Pullen

Credit: Photo: Samil Pullen

Samil Pullen is doing something most people would find crazy: taking 30 kids — who she doesn’t even know — to the movies.

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Pullen, a program manager at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, dropped $240 on 30 tickets to Marvel’s “Black Panther” and gave the tickets away on Facebook.

Although she didn't know it at the time, the single mother had accepted the #BlackPantherChallenge.

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Celebrities and everyday people around the country are paying for tickets so that needy children can see the blockbuster movie. The movie’s production was designed by Wright State University and Centerville High School alumna Hannah Beachler.

Accepting the challenge, the Atlanta Hawks hosted a screening for 150 youth and their chaperones Wednesday.

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New York resident Frederick Joseph started the challenge after raising $40,000 on Gofundme to take Harlem children to see the movie.

The Saturday screen in Huber Heights will be a third viewing for Pullen. With her 13-year-old son Mi’Kel on punishment for his grades and chores, the Dayton native saw the the movie alone the first time and was amazed.

“After I saw it, I said it is so bigger than him being on punishment,” she said.

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Pullen said she decided to buy tickets for other children after her son saw the movie, which prompted him to ask questions about African heritage and black history.

It was only after the movie that Pullen, who took a DNA test a year ago to trace her roots, said that her son wanted to research the African tribe from which her family comes.

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Pullen’s son also expressed great interest in the movie’s female army. That conversation lead to a discussion about the Dahomey Amazons, an all-female regiment from the former African Kingdom of Dahoney in what is now Benin.

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