“The next day I stopped in and sure enough he was waiting there for me, I took him and his dog to the job site. He wasn’t kidding about being a hard worker; this guy carried wood around and fetched tools out of my truck for me all day without complaining once. His dog just shadowed him the entire time.
During the day I learned about how he had lost his wife in a car accident, had his home that he had lived in for 35 years repossessed by the bank, had no children or family, was staying at a KOA campground, and had a bunch of his life possessions stolen. He had been spit on by strangers while begging for money and had all but given up on the human race as a whole.
At the end of the day, I took him to my bank and withdrew his day’s pay, which amounted to $80. The look on his face was well worth it. My random act of kindness seemed to put a spark back in his eye, and I continued to pick him up the rest of the week in the same spot and paying him at the end of each day.
Yesterday when I dropped him off, he asked me to take him to a different spot, near the KOA. He explained that with the money I paid him, he was going to be able to afford camping provisions for the next couple of months and told me how much it meant to him and his dog to not have to sleep outside on the cold ground.
When I left him last night, he looked like a different person than the man I saw hanging his head in shame behind Chick-fil-A. He promised me he would be there for me next week if I needed him, and although my job site is going to be on the other side of town next week, I have already decided to continue going out of my way to pick him up and put him to work.”
