There is an old saying “I complained I had no shoes until I met a man with no feet”.
Sometimes, we are so quick to judge others that we don’t realize that there are people out there that just need someone to help get them headed in the right direction.
But i the current climate it’s more important than ever to keep our eyes and ears open to people who may be struggling around us.
This isn’t something confined to family alone, as sometimes strangers need a helping hand too.
Life dealt 16-year-old Chauncy Black a hand that most of us could never imagine having to live with. Although he had a place to live with his mother, he didn’t have anything to eat.
The 16-year-old was starving and desperately trying to get a job in order to help his mom make rent, bills and buy food.
Eventually, he did the only thing he could and headed to the one place that has loads of food – a Kroger grocery store in an affluent neighborhood.
Little did he know that a chance encounter with a stranger would end up changing his life forever…
Chauncy managed to scrounge up enough change for a bus pass that would get him to the “rich” part of town and back home again. His plan was to offer work in exchange for a bite of food.
When Chauncy finally got to the Kroger store, he boldly approached a stranger and asked if he could carry his groceries to the car in exchange for a pack of donuts.
The kind stranger, Matt White, was moved by the young man’s request.
”This kid looked like he had been turned down 100 times. He looked ashamed, hungry and broken. In my heart I screamed a loud “yes!”, but to him I just chuckled and said, “yeah dude, we’ll get you some donuts.”
Matt took it upon himself to do more than what was asked of him. Matt soon found out that Chauncy had no phone, only a bus pass, and a hungry mother waiting at home.
Shocked by Chauncy’s situation, he decided to give him more than just a sugary breakfast.
He took Chancy back into the store itself and bought toiletries, cereal and other staples for him and his mother, Barbara.
Going one step further, Matt delivered the groceries himself, and then shared his experience on Facebook.
For Matt, it was apparent that Chauncy needed a helping hand. And how could he possible ignore that?
The Good Samaritan proceeded to load up the cart with all sorts of goodies that Chauncy could take back home to his mother.
“So, needless to say, he and I went on a shopping spree. We had so much fun! We got cereal and chips and frozen veggies, pizzas, Cheetos, melons and pasta, peanut butter, milk, soap, tooth brushes, just a little bit of everything”, Matt wrote.
While shopping for all the things that Chauncy and his mom needed to survive, Matt learned that the enterprising young man was a straight-A student.
Even though Chauncy had a rough start in life, that didn’t stop him from having big dreams of helping others in need.
”This kid was amazing. Chauncy kept calling himself poor, but he told me that one day he was gonna be wealthy and own his own businesses so that he could help other people in his neighborhood and buy them groceries like me. I was in awe”, Matt said.
Matt went on to explain how Chauncy and his mom were living on sleeping pads made out of sleeping bags, didn’t own a sofa or bed and had nothing at all in their fridge.
According to him, Chauncy’s mother had a disability that made walking a difficulty, as well as giving her the shakes.
Chauncey was offered a ride instead of taking the bus so he accepted – but upon arriving home he and his mentally ill mother never expected the stranger to do this for them.
“I gave him a ride home so that he didn’t have to take the bus and when we got to his house I was truly humbled. He wasn’t kidding. He and his mom had nothing. They didn’t even have beds or furniture. They were sleeping on pads made out of sleeping bags, they had two lamps and nothing in their fridge.”
When unpacking the groceries, Matt could see hope coming back into Chauncy’s eyes. It was like he was just a regular kid again.
”As I was leaving I gave him a hug and told him how much God loved him and that he was going to grow up to be an incredible man. I’ll never forget that hug. It meant more to me than any possession I have.”
However, that “goodbye” wasn’t the end of this beautiful story.
As if buying groceries for a struggling family wasn’t enough, Matt set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money, so that Chauncyo could start his own lawn mowing business.
Once his story went rival, the page raised over $340,000.
It also meant that he could finally get a real bed to sleep in.
The kindness of strangers never ceases to amaze me and there should be more people like Matt.
Chauncy always had the desire, he just needed that one person to give him his chance. Bless you both because I believe you will both bless others!
Despite the large amount of money that was raised on his behalf, Chauncy still felt the need to start his own business so that he could be self-sufficient and help others. What an amazing teen.
I think this is a beautiful story and we could use more articles like this one, instead of children being beat or left home alone, animals being abused, elderly couples with out homes.
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