A man’s small kindness to a stranger lead to a bigger one that has positively impacted both their lives. Andy Mitchell was out driving on a 95-degree summer day (35°C) in Rockwall, Texas, when he noticed a young man in a fast food uniform walking along side of the road.
Feeling it was too hot out for anyone to be walking, he stopped and offered 20-year-old Justin Korva a ride.
Andy learned that the young man walked 3 miles to work and home every day. Andy later shared the moment on Facebook and wrote, “Meet my friend Justin! I picked this boy up this a.m. and gave him a ride to work at Taco Casa. He told me he walks 3 miles to work and home everyday. To all the people that say they want to work but can’t find a job or don’t have a vehicle all I can say is you don’t want it bad enough!”
Andy also learned that Justin was determined to save up money for a car. After Andy posted his meeting with Justin on social media, the post was read by hundreds of people in the community.
One of the people who saw it was Samee Dowlatshahi, owner of Samee’s Pizza Getti Italian Bistro & Lounge in Rockwell. He offered to put a donation box inside his pizza joint to help raise money for Justin to buy a car. Within two days, he and Andy had raised more than $5,500!
Word got to Danny Rawls, who is a friend of Dowlatshahi and general sales manager at Toyota of Rockwall. When he heard about what the men were trying to do he asked his general manager if they could help out the young man.
“I presented it to my general manager and said, ‘Hey, let’s help the kid. It seems like a great story,'” Rawls told CBS News.
His boss agreed and they reduced the price on a 2004 Toyota Camry they had up for sale. Soon, they connected with Dowlatshahi and Andy and the men bought the car and had enough left over to pay for car insurance for a year, plus two years’ worth of oil changes and a $500 gas card.
They then drove the car to Justin’s workplace and asked him to come outside. Several people pulled out their cell phones to record the moment.
“Justin, you can’t imagine all the people who wanted to help you,” Andy said. “So, instead of walking to work, buddy, you’re driving this car from now on.”
Justin was stunned and asked, “Are you serious?”
“It’s your car! This is your car,” Andy repeated.
Justin was overcome with emotion and gave gave each man a hug, wiping tears from his eyes as he walked toward the car.
“We just want you to know, seriously, this community, nothing we love better than to have someone who works hard,” Dowlatshahi said. “We take a lot of pride in that. It’s so hot out here, I can’t believe you walk even one mile in this heat.”
“He’s a very humble young man and accepted it with stride,” Rawls said later. “There couldn’t have been more of a deserving individual, for sure.”
We need more people in the world like these folks. Watch a clip of Justin receiving his surprise in the video below and share this heartwarming story with your friends and family.
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