Not everyone is born under a lucky star. Some people have it easy in life and are able to afford nice houses, vehicles, and a number of commodities, while others have a hard time putting food on the table and struggle to make ends meet.
A teenage boy named Chauncy Black didn’t have much while growing up. He and his mother had a place to call home, but struggled to make enough money for food. Black, although just 16 years old, decided things needed to change. He couldn’t stand seeing his mother feeling guilty for not providing him a better life.
One day, he decided to take bus to a place where there was lots of food, a Kroger grocery store in an affluent neighborhood. He managed to save enough money for a bus ticket and had a plan to offer help to strangers in an exchange for some food. Little did he know that this pan of his would change his life forever.
Once at the store, Chauncy noticed a man carrying a bunch of bags so he approached and asked if he could help him carry his groceries to his car in an exchange for some donuts.
The stranger, Matt White, agreed.
“This kid looked like he had been turned down 100 times. He looked ashamed, hungry and broken. In my heart I screamed a loud “yes!”, but to him I just chuckled and said, “yeah dude, we’ll get you some donuts,” Mark recalled.
Mark realized the kid had no money, only a bus pass to get back home where his hungry mother was waiting for him.
Feeling the urge to step in for Chauncy, Mark decided to repay for the teen’s help not only by getting him donuts, but a bunch of other things too.
“So, needless to say, he and I went on a shopping spree. We had so much fun! We got cereal and chips and frozen veggies, pizzas, Cheetos, melons and pasta, peanut butter, milk, soap, tooth brushes, just a little bit of everything,” Mark explained.
While they were shopping, Chauncy told Mark how he was an A-straight student and was doing all in his power to get a job in order to help with the rent.
“This kid was amazing. Chauncy kept calling himself poor, but he told me that one day he was gonna be wealthy and own his own businesses so that he could help other people in his neighborhood and buy them groceries like me. I was in awe.”
Mark even offered Chauncy a ride home. Once there, he noticed that the boy’s mother was very ill.
“I gave him a ride home so that he didn’t have to take the bus and when we got to his house I was truly humbled. He wasn’t kidding. He and his mom had nothing. They didn’t even have beds or furniture. They were sleeping on pads made out of sleeping bags, they had two lamps and nothing in their fridge.”
Chauncy’s mother was shaking uncontrollably because of the condition she suffered from. She was fragile and in need of medical assistance.
Chauncy was extremely thankful to Mark. No one has ever done anything so generous for him and his mom before.
“As I was leaving I gave him a hug and told him how much God loved him and that he was going to grow up to be an incredible man. I’ll never forget that hug. It meant more to me than any possession I have.”
Mark couldn’t stop thinking of the poor life conditions of Chauncy and his mom. He knew he needed to do something in order to ease their life as much as possible so he started a GoFundMe page.
In no time, this teen’s story went viral, and support and donations came pouring in. An incredible $341K was raised in response to this family’s basic needs. On top of that, Chauncy could now afford to buy the necessary equipment for his lawn mowing business he was planning on starting long time ago.
One serendipitous encounter changed it all for this brave teen. For more on his life story go to the video below.