When Chauncey Black was inside of the Highland Kroger, he approached a stranger with one request that would forever change his life.
Chauncy Black, a 16-year-old had a pretty difficult life. He lived with his mother and had a roof over his head, but he did not have anything to eat and was starving!
He went to a Kroger store in an affluent neighborhood. Despite having little money, Chauncy managed to scrounge up enough change for a bus pass. He planned to offer to work in exchange for food. What he did not expect, was the chance encounter with a stranger that would change his life forever.
Once inside the Kroger grocery store, Chauncy approached a stranger and asked if he could carry his groceries to the car in exchange for a pack of donuts.
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!”, however, to him I just chuckled and said, “yeah dude, we will get you some donuts.”
Matt found out that Chauncy had no phone, a bus pass, and a hungry mother waiting at home. Chauncy was hoping a kind stranger would feed him before his bus returned within the hour.
Matt wasn’t going to just give the teen a single pack of donuts, it was obvious that the kid needed a helping hand. He couldn’t ignore him. The Good Samaritan proceeded to load up the grocery cart with all sorts of food 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.”
While they were shopping, Matt discovered that the enterprising young man was a straight-A student, and he was trying to get a job to help his mother pay rent.
“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 offered a ride to Chauncy instead of taking the bus. Once he arrived home, 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.”
It was obvious Chauncy’s mother was medically fragile – she shook uncontrollably, and had trouble walking.
While the pair unpacked 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.”
Matt didn’t just leave Chauncy with a load of groceries that day, he setup a GoFundMe account to raise money for the necessities that this family desperately needed.
Chauncy needed clothes and all he had was a $10 Ross gift card for himself. Matt’s incentive raised an incredible $341K in response to this family’s basic needs. Chauncy purchased the equipment he needed to start his own lawn mowing business.
It also meant that Chauncy could finally get a real bed to sleep in.
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