Road Trip For The Heart

February 21, 2019 8:54 AM

Arkansas couple drives homeless man 600 miles to reunite with long-lost family
posted by growabrain (5 comments total)

My father stopped once at a curb where a man held a sign that read "hungry, family is homeless, need a job" - and gave him his address, telling him to show up at 8. The man never asked what type of work it was, just said thank you. The man was dirty, thin, and looked like he had been strung out on drugs for years. The next day, at 7 AM, he was outside sitting on the ground, waiting, an hour early. He had walked 13 miles through the night to get to my Dad's house.

He worked with my father all day, clearing brush, mowing, cutting limbs and cutting down trees. At the end of the day, my Dad gave him some money and asked if he could come back tomorrow. The guy said yes, and after the job was finally done a week later, my dad offered him an entry level job at the Commercial Hose and Supply company he managed. Slowly but surely, the man worked his way up to salesman, and became the man to beat when it came to sales. Then lead Salesman, then supervisor. When my Dad retired, 15 years later, the man took over his job. Today, he owns his own company doing the same thing, and strictly prohibits his employees from stealing their customers or working in their area. I was invited to a party out at his lake house a few years ago, and he is doing - well, quite well.

You can't always judge a book by it's cover.
posted by bradth27 at 9:37 AM on February 21, 2019 [115 favorites]

If you can't get to the story, due to GDPR, on the above link, here it is at RawStory.
posted by msjen at 10:21 AM on February 21, 2019 [2 favorites]

And these folks also had the resources to check for his outstanding warrants and the knowledge that they could likely be dropped with a few fines paid. Internet access to find family and enough money to pay a few fines and for a road trip. Pretty small hurdles for many, but huge to this guy, and not the sorts of hurdles most would be willing to take for another. A small, yet very big, thing.
posted by ldthomps at 10:29 AM on February 21, 2019 [12 favorites]

There's another clip and so on here if you didn't spot it at the original site.
posted by Coaticass at 9:33 PM on February 21, 2019

Thank you for sharing this.
posted by 2soxy4mypuppet at 6:55 PM on February 23, 2019