A stranger’s kindness can make all the difference in someone’s life, but this teenager likely never could have expected the help he would get from one man who extended a helping hand. 16-year-old Chauncy Black was inside a Kroger grocery store when he approached a stranger with a request. Chauncy had come to the grocery store with his bus pass and no money.
He and his family didn’t have any food, so he planned to offer work in exchange for food. He asked one customer if he could carry his groceries to his car in exchange for donuts. That meeting changed his life forever.
The man, Matt White, was moved by Chauncy’s offer, explaining in a Facebook post: “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 discovered that Chauncy had no food and a hungry mother at home and planned to get on the bus when it returned in an hour. Matt knew he had to do more to help this family, so he loaded up a cart with food that Chauncy could take back to his mom.
Matt explained: “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 learned more about Chauncy during that shopping spree — that he’s a straight-A student and was trying to get a job to help pay the family’s rent.
He shared: “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.”
The kind stranger then offered Chauncy a ride home, Matt explained, “so that he didn’t have to take the bus” and shared that “when we got to his house I was truly humbled.” Matt continued: “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.”
He also saw that Chauncy’s mother was shaking and had difficulty walking. This was truly a family in need and Matt was glad to help them out.
He wrote: “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.”
Matt then set up a GoFundMe account to raise money for Chauncy and his mother — $342,000 was raised in response to the family’s needs.
Chauncy and his mom could now get furniture and beds to sleep in, plus the teen could buy the equipment he needed to start his own lawn mowing business.
