After Man Asks for Help on Side of Road, Sign Thanks Community for Support: 'I Start Working Monday'
It’s easy to judge people who are asking for money.
If they’re dirty or wearing torn clothing, people will think they should at least try to look presentable. If they’re clean and dressed well, people will think they are scammers and don’t actually need help.
But unless you really get to know a person, it’s pretty difficult to get an accurate read on their situation. All you know is that they’re asking for help, and you have to decide whether to give any.
A man from West Seneca, New York, has seemed to prove himself by leaving a sign for those who helped him over the past few months.
The man, known only as “Kevin,” had become a staple on a street corner where he held a sign saying he was ex-military, drug-free, alcohol-free and looking for a job, according to local Jesse Dixon.
Dixon said the man was polite and seemed as if he truly was just going through a rough patch.
“He’s just a nice guy,” Dixon told WKBW-TV. “It seemed like he, you know, hit a patch of, you know, patch of bad luck, so we were just trying to help him through it.”
“If I didn’t see him for two or three days at a time, it was unusual. Like I said, I usually … usually saw him at least a couple times a week.”
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This week, Kevin has been absent from his familiar post — but in his spot, a message was handwritten on a sign: “Thank you everyone who has helped. I start working Monday.”
The sign means little to those who weren’t familiar with his presence on that corner, but those who knew him said they know it’s from him.
“I was really glad to hear that he — he’s found some work,” Dixon said.
Megan Bingham, co-chair of the annual local Project Homeless Connect event, said Kevin’s gesture was heartwarming.
“Here’s a man who is so grateful to have found a job that he left a sign for anyone who’s helped him over the last, you know, however many months,” she said.
“I mean, that gives me goosebumps.”
Other local readers chimed in with similar comments about Kevin’s good nature and their joy at hearing he’d been employed.
“Our family has helped him out on many occasions,” one commenter wrote on WKBW’s Facebook page. “He was always so grateful for anything we gave him. Congratulations.”
“So very happy!” another wrote. “I have stopped on a few occasions and given him food and gift cards. He is such a remarkable kind man. So glad to hear this news.”
“I just gave him some money last week,” wrote a third. “I’m so happy for him. I seen it in his eyes he needed help and was thankful.”
According to what a nearby gas station employee told WKBW, it was a landscaping company that offered Kevin a job. Many commenters on the news story post have asked for the company’s name so that they can thank them by utilizing their services.
Whether that information is made public, it’s heartwarming to know that Kevin has a new opportunity and that he appreciated the help he received enough that he wanted to let his supporters know how grateful he was — something that’s rare these days.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
