It’s pretty easy to choose not to look at the people around us who need our help. But that would be a shame, because the person in need might be a colleague, a family member, or a complete stranger on the street. And all the person might need is a smile, a shoulder to cry on, or a bite to eat. Each week, Greg Smith has lunch with Amy. Amy is homeless. And you might think that only Amy gets anything out of of their lunches, but as you’ll see below, what Greg gets out of their time together is priceless. One day recently, Amy shared something with Greg that he never thought could be possible. A while later, he shared the story on Facebook and since then, thousands of people around the world have shared it. And it’s no wonder—Greg’s story is inspiring to say the least. Scroll down to read it and then share it so that as many people can hear his message as possible.
“Meet ‘Amy Joe.’ For the last few weeks each Tuesday, Amy Joe and I meet at the corner of Pine street and S. Orange Ave in downtown Orlando. (I work downtown and am always moving around the city.) Each day for about a week, I saw Amy Joe at this corner and she never asked for money… She simply said, ‘Good morning, sir. Have a great day. God bless!” and smiled.
I wear a suit to work everyday so I get asked a lot for money quite often downtown… But never once from Amy Joe. Every Tuesday, Amy Joe and I now have lunch together.
For 30 min to an hour, I get to hear how positive she is even though she really has nothing. Last week, Amy Joe kind of dropped a bomb on me… She cannot read.
Amy Joe does not smoke, drink, have a drug addiction, or do anything of that nature. She simply just has never had anyone teach her how to read. She told me how hard it was for her to find work not being able to read. She began to tell me any money that she can collect she uses to check out library books that help with learning to read instead of buying FOOD. This crushed me!!! She would rather learn to read than maybe find a job and then eat!!!
I have been blessed with two amazing parents and a family that has always had resources to provide me with anything I wanted to do. Amy Joe has not.
So now not only do Amy Joe and I sit and have lunch, I’m teach her to read. I rent one library book a week and we read it together Tuesday and she practices on her own throughout the rest of the week.
This post is in no way to make anyone feel sorry for Amy Joe or brag about me doing something for someone less fortunate. I wanted to share this because maybe this can lead to someone helping another person.
There are a lot of people out there like Amy Joe. Not all are hungry, homeless, or hurt. Some could be your family or friends. Helping someone could be as easy as saying hello and smiling. I have been fortunate enough in my finances that I can take care of Amy Joe, so that’s what I’m going to do. If this is something that hit home with you, like & share it… If not, that’s okay, too.
But you never know what you can do for someone until you try. Who is your Amy Joe?!?!? #humblepie”
Please share Greg’s story so that it can inspire as many people as possible!
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