A buck for the homeless
Nine year old Kelvin Ellis Jr. had a good report card from his school in Baton Rouge, LA. His dad wanted to reward that behavior, so he gave Kelvin some spending money. One morning last week they went into town early to do some shopping and Kelvin had the idea of spending the reward and doing some good. He had one dollar left when his dad went into one of the downtown shops and Kelvin waited outside. As Kelvin waited, he saw a man standing in the corner of a building near the doorway and the man had pajama bottoms on and looked like he had just got out of bed. Kelvin immediately knew what he would do with that last dollar. He would give it to this homeless man lurking near the restaurant door. So he walked up to the squinting man next to the door with his dollar in his closed fist and offered to the man. At first the guy did not know what to do, but Kelvin said, ‘If you’re homeless, here’s a dollar.” But the man wasn’t homeless after all — it was local sporting goods store owner Matt Busbice. Busbice had built and sold several outdoor companies worth hundreds of millions of dollars found himself standing outside that morning in mismatched clothes after he was driven outside of his downtown condo complex by a blaring fire alarm.
The 42-year-old owner of “BuckFeather” decided to go for a cup of coffee while he waited for the alarm to clear. As he waited, he stopped outside to say his morning prayers. “And I started to slowly open my eyes, and there’s a kid coming at me, about my height,” Matt said. Busbice noticed the boy had a clenched fist and prepared himself for a confrontation — until Kelvin opened his hand to reveal the single dollar bill. Even though it was the only money he had to his name, Kelvin was eager to pass it on to someone he thought needed it more. “I always wanted to help a homeless person, and I finally had the opportunity,” Kelvin said.
Matt was so touched that he invited Kelvin for a snack and connected with the boy’s father before ultimately inviting the kind-hearted child to a shopping spree at his sporting goods store. Kelvin had 40 seconds to pick out whatever he wanted in BuckFeather. He picked out some new clothes and a new bike. Kelvin’s compassion has inspired Busbice, who said the boy restored his faith in humanity. “If you give, you’re actually going to get more out of that,” Matt said. “I couldn’t grasp that as a kid. And if we can spread that around, everything changes.”
Homeless Ha-Ha’s
I had five hundred Hershey Bars in my fridge and my friend had one in his. I pressured him into giving his to a homeless person.
That’s basically how celebrity charity appeals work.
Today I gave an iPhone and $500 to a homeless guy.
You will never know the happiness I felt when he put his gun away.
I asked a pretty, young homeless woman if I could take her home. She smiled at me and said yes.
The look on her face soon changed, however, when I walked off with her cardboard box.
I walked past a homeless guy with a sign that read, “One day, this could be you.”
So I put my money back in my pocket, just in case he’s right.
May 10th Birthdays
1994 – Halston Sage, 1986 – Odette Annable, 1990 – Lindsay Shaw, 1959 – Ellen Ochoa
1979 – Keenan Thompson, 1960 – Bono, 1899 – Fred Astaire, 1955 – Rick Steves