A Memphis man was shopping in his local Kroger when he was approached by a teenage boy. After speaking to the teen for a few minutes, the man knew exactly what he needed to do.
According to Mad World News, Matt White was grocery shopping when he met 16-year-old Chauncy Jones. The teen told him that he had taken the bus to the «rich people’s Kroger» to see if he could get something to eat.
White began talking to the teen some more and was touched by his story. Rather than simply buying him a box of donuts, he decided to do a bit more. White detailed the incident in a post on his Facebook page:
I just met the most inspiring person ever. His name is Chauncy Jones. He’s a 16 year old from Memphis … He approached me while I was shopping for produce asking if he could help me carry my grocery bags to my car in exchange for buying him a pack of glazed donuts.
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». I asked him if he was by himself and he said that he had come all the way out here with the hopes of someone buying him something to eat because he and his mother had nothing at home. He had no phone, a bus pass, and he was depending on the graces of a stranger to feed him within the hour before the bus left.
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. All the while we talked and he told me how he makes straight A’s in school and is trying to get a job to help his mom 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.
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. Nothing. His mother was so sweet but very fragile. I couldn’t tell what it was, but she had some sort of physical and/ or mental disability that made her shake and made walking difficult. I thought I was going to cry.
As we unpacked the food into their kitchen, you could see the hope coming back into Chauncy’s eyes. He knew he wasn’t going to be hungry. He looked like a 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. Our God is an awesome God, and we can never be thankful enough for the blessings we have.
After the inspiring meeting, White launched a GoFundMe to raise money to buy Chauncy a lawn mower that he could use to make money. However, the teen’s story quickly went viral and more than $300,000 was raised for the teen and his mother.
