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All I Had Was 17 Cents
“Do not neglect to offer hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” — Hebrews 13:2
One summer day, not too many summers ago, a young woman demonstrated spontaneous generosity.
What happened was this: I had gone one town over to shop at Grocery Outlet. “GO” has a lot of things that my family eats and uses, and often I end up paying about 40 percent less for them when purchased at that store. It’s one of the few places where I really see that I too have an “inner shopper.”
So during this shopping spree, the items that I bought took almost every penny I had on me. When the clerk handed over my change, I realized I now had 17 cents on my person. Apparently, by buying two or three of each needed item, I could really blow through my wad of cash much faster than expected.
Walking out the store’s big front doors, I reviewed how the car had more than enough gas to get home, and that I didn’t really need to stop anywhere else, as I could get to the pet store some other day.
As I mused over the situation, an elderly woman stumbled around in front of me. She looked me in the eyes, and said very softly, “Honey, I hate to bother you, but I haven’t eaten since yesterday. I wonder if you could spare some change?”
I took the coins out of my pocket, mumbled how sorry I was that it wasn’t more, and went around her to get to my car.
My leaving her with just 17 cents really troubled me. She did look hungry. Certainly she didn’t have any body fat attached to her skinny little silhouette. I remembered how a rundown trailer park was close to the shopping center. A friend who does a “Toys for Tots” program always makes up food baskets for the elderly who live there each and every Holiday Season.
As I thought this over, the July heat shimmered on the asphalt. July marked a long time since Christmas, and that food basket had been empty for months now.
While opening the car trunk to throw my groceries in, I saw the old lady approaching a young twenty-something. The woman was walking along pushing her grocery cart and humming an upbeat tune. She possessed an easy-breezy style of walking. I might have figured this free spirit for a drama or dance major, except that she wore a crisply ironed Army recruit’s uniform.
Then I watched as the elderly woman repeated her feeble bid for aid. The recruit grinned a 100-watt smile back at her. “You know something. I don’t think I have a penny on me. Not a penny!”
The woman started to turn away, clearly disappointed. But the recruit walked in front of her, cutting off her retreat. “Please don’t leave. I mean, why don’t you come with me over to my car? You could help me divide up my groceries and figure out if anything I bought today would help you out.”
As she said this, I pulled my bags of groceries back out of the trunk. A couple of other people joined us at the recruit’s car trunk. When the old lady was done shopping amongst our stuff, she had happily laid claim to several big bags of food. And two older teens were offering to help her carry her stuff home.
Sometimes I don’t like to leave the house as it can be such a Big Cold Miserable Place out there, even on hot days. But then there are days like that one where a complete stranger offers me lessons on generosity and common sense to help improve the world.
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Very nice, CarolJoy. Thanks for posting it.
A wonderful way to start the week. Thank you. :-)
You never need to go far from home to give and help others.
Street level charity can be hard.
Once I was going down a city street and encountered a middle aged woman and two children sitting in an alcove off the sidewalk with a sign ‘Need food for my kids’.
I seldom carry much cash, (credit cards only) and had none on this occasion, so I went in to a nearby White Castle and bought a bag of burgers. I took them back to the woman, and when I tried to hand it to her she growled “We don’t want your leftovers!”. I said “lady, I just bought them for you, they are fresh and hot”. She never took them.
I suspect her kids were not as hungry as she let on.
The moral of the story is, when someone is begging for food, give them food. Otherwise, it is likely the money is for something else, likely drugs or alcohol.
Great post! Thank you.
I think, perhaps, the key words you quoted from Hebrews are “do not neglect.” Too often it seems we are too busy with our own world and its problems to notice the needs of those around us.
A while back, after having missed opportunities to offer assistance to people on the street, I began carrying a supply of plastic rain ponchos (this is Oregon, after all) and granola on my mobility scooter to offer “street people” that I encounter. Its not much, but it is usually gratefully received. It’s also a reminder to be thankful for my daily blessings.
Those poor kids. I don’t like thinking about what growing up with such a mom would be like for them.
This beautiful story reminds me of the fable of stone soup, in which a group who each have one ingredient to spare are enticed to put the item in a pot, resulting in a wonderful soup for the group. Here, each of you had a few extra items, which added up to a blessing for the woman in need, and all of the people who shared.
This conversation is part of our Group Writing Series under the March 2019 Group Writing Theme: Unexpected Gifts. There are plenty of dates still available. Tell us about anything from a hidden talent to a white elephant. Share a great surprise or memorable failure (oh, you shouldn’t have!). Our schedule and sign-up sheet awaits.
April’s theme will be posted after the Ides of March.
God bless.
My brother-in-law died of a heroin overdose. It’s a long, typical story.
My wife likes to buy burgers and hand them out at the shelter where he died. She said her brother always complained of being hungry when he waited in line for hours to get in the shelter.
I think they sell them for drugs.
Thank you!
You are welcome. It was a moment in time that was definitely a blessing for everyone who participated.