When we face a person who is in distress, we have two options. Mumble something unpleasant and get away, or help him. It’s really just one of the two.
And of course, there is a tendency to help people we know well, such as family or friends. But when it comes to strangers, and specifically homeless people, sometimes we feel less committed.
Maybe we’re afraid, maybe we think someone else will help them instead, maybe we don’t really think they need help or use our help for bad things like alcohol or drugs. The reason doesn’t matter, homeless people are among the most vulnerable people there are – and they can definitely use the help they get.
And it seems that a young Burger King employee named Matthew Resendez understands this very well.
Matthew was working one evening when a homeless person walked inside. It wasn’t an unusual sight for Matthew, to serve the homeless in a restaurant, but this man had an unusual question.
The neglected man approached the counter and asked, “What can I get for 50 cents?”
When Matthew heard the question, he had two options. Either to give a realistic answer: “Nothing” – 50 cents would not buy anyone even the smallest dish in the menu. But this was not how Matthew had chosen to answer.
An act of generosity
Matthew chose the biggest meal on the menu – and paid for it from his own pocket.
The story could end there, but a diner who was there witnessed Matthew’s kindness gesture and decided to pass it on .. and give Matthew a tip of $100!
After hearing what happened that day, Matthew’s mother, Michelle Resendez, was very proud of her son. Later she decided to write on Facebook about what happened.
“Mom’s proud moment, Matthew worked tonight and a homeless man went into the restaurant with 50 cents and asked if there was anything on the menu he could buy. Matthew asked him what he would have ordered if he could have chosen what he wanted, and the man said everything would have helped his hunger. So Matthew chose a big meal and used his credit card to pay for the homeless man’s meal, and he gave him the receipt and told him to relax and sit down at a table, the story could end there and it was a good ending, but it turned out that one woman watched my son during the good deed. Not only did she write to the company to inform them about the caring and good-hearted employee who works for them, but she also gave my son an extravagant tip! So proud to be his mother, I could pat myself on the back knowing I had played a major role in the education and growth of this young man with the huge heart.
Perhaps if it was another worker he would tell the homeless man to leave the restaurant without eating anything. But Matthew is definitely not one of those people. He is an exceptional young man who wants to change the way needy people are treated and he was rewarded for it”.
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