Travis 'Doodles' Settineri, a Sensation! It All Began with a Single Ask

Millions know him as Travis Doodles, the YouTube sensation who gives money away to help those in need and urges others to do the same. 

“We're here for such a short time and I want to use it to, to do good and change people's lives,” said Travis. “Like it's so much better to be generous than to be in a scarcity mindset that doesn't help anybody.”

His real name is Travis Sentineri. Back in 2021 life was much different for the then 36-year-old. He was making a six-figure income as a personal videographer for a multimillionaire in Florida.

Travis said, “I’m just like, this is empty. Because there was no purpose behind the content other than just show everybody how rich he was. And there's nothing wrong with having money, but like, that doesn't fulfill me or give me any purpose. And so, I’m talking to my friend, and I told him, I said, if I had this guy's money, I would just give it all away. That's what makes me happy. I like helping people. And the second it left my mouth, I felt like God checked me and He said, ‘put your money where your mouth is. If you're not doing it now with the little you have, what makes you think you're going to do it if I give you millions?’ And so, I was like, oh, wow, that's pretty interesting. And I thought I was going through something where I go back to my wife and I’m like, hey, you know, I feel like I’m supposed to quit my job and give away all our money. And I’m thinking maybe she's going to talk some sense into me. And she says, if you feel like God's calling you to do that, I got your back. I think you should do it. And I’m like, oh, no.”

So, Travis quit his job, while his wife, Amber, cleaned homes, and began dipping into savings to give money to seemingly random strangers.

“And I would pray God lead me to the right person and I would just try to make their day better. So, it starts out just buying people gas, paying for their groceries, getting a homeless guy off the street, paying for his motel and helping him get a job, that type of thing,” said Travis.

Travis in truck: “And it’s really sad. I wasn’t expecting that.  I’ll go give him some food and that that off his mind.”

“I want to do this every day for the rest of my life!”

After a couple of months, he decided to record a video of what he was doing and put it on YouTube.

Travis said, “I just wanted to document what I was doing so I could look back on it and see what God was, you know, going to do.”

Subscriptions to his channel were sporadic, and by May 2022, the couple had gone through their savings. Then on June 4th Travis posted a story about a homeless man named “Bob”, who had cancer and had lost his job. Travis also asked viewers if they would help get him get Bob and his wife off the street.

In 24 hours, the story had received 20 million hits, and the donations poured in. Using those and the money he earned on YouTube, Travis was able to take care of Bob and his wife.

Bob said, “And ever since then, we have not been on the street.”

Bob said while sitting with Travis, “And I still get teared up talking about what you’ve done for us. Because not a lot of people are going to do this.”

Travis said, “Appreciate it.”

Bob said, “You know what I’m saying. But you’re a man of your word.”
Since then, Travis’ YouTube channel, along with his other social media platforms, have grown to 9 million subscribers. Countless people have been helped.

Travis said, “I think that the content really resonates with people because deep down, everybody wants to help somebody, everybody wants to do good, everybody wants to make the world a better place. And so, if they watch my videos in the morning before they start their day, they're like, man, who can I buy lunch for today? Who can I go love on today? Who can I go have a conversation with today that I wouldn’t usually have? But this video planted a seed and makes me want to do good.”

Eventually, Travis turned his passion into a ministry he calls Worth and Purpose. Today, he and Amber live simply, pouring the majority of their earnings, and all of the donations, into continuing the mission. They encourage others to reach out to those in need, because even a little bit of kindness with a good dose of God’s love, goes a long way.

“There's no way that I can explain it other than God just breathing on my obedience,” said Travis. “And the ministry itself, like going from zero to 9 million followers and billions of views in less than two years. It's impossible.”

“And it's my responsibility as part of my ministry to spread the love of God through the language of the world. The language of the world today is social media. So, I'm going to use that to try and spread the Gospel, try and connect kindness to the name of Jesus and represent Him the best I can.”