The Literacy Site via Cathy Ruggiero
As we were getting ready to leave the bowling alley last night, a man came up to us. He apologized for bothering us, but asked if we knew anywhere he could get money. I won’t go into all the details, but as we all listened, he told us if he didn’t get to Houston by 8 am this morning, his daughter would go into foster care. He was desperate. He needed gas for his truck and didn’t have the money to fill up his tank and then get back again.
He told us he worked in Fort Smith. At first I thought it was a scam, but noticed he WAS wearing the shirt of a local business. We asked how much he needed. He said it was a loan and he would pay us back, asking how he could find us. We just told him we would probably be at the bowling alley next Monday evening and he could pay us back then.
We have been in similar positions, needing and not finding help. When we needed money, there weren’t ATM’s and the local banks were closed, of course. Now we have credit cards where we could pay now and then worry about how to pay later – but he only had a debit card and it was all used up. He would get his paycheck today at noon – too late. We’ve been in the position of needing surgery and not having health insurance. Of needing medicine and not finding a pharmacy open or having cash to pay for it. Of not only trying to live paycheck to paycheck, but having to choose which bills to pay with what we had. We’ve been without jobs, selling whatever we had to make enough money to keep our home.
It made us feel good, though, that if he was telling us the truth, we were in a position to able to help him at least a little bit. I’m hoping, as I type this, he and his daughter are together now, on their way back to Fort Smith. I hope he can pick up his paycheck tomorrow at work – not in trouble for having to miss.
We don’t expect to see him again, but it would be really nice – restoring my faith in people – if we do.
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