As a man who wears a suit to work, one Florida man was used to getting stopped by homeless people begging for money or food, which is why he was taken so off guard when he passed a homeless woman on the street as he walked through downtown Orlando.
Rather than ask for food or money, the homeless woman simply smiled at Greg Smith, the founder of Hybrid Athletes, a professional fitness training organization, and said, “Good morning, sir. Have a great day. God Bless.” Smith was so stunned, that he stopped and said hello. Despite having nothing, Amy Joe still never asked Smith for anything whenever they saw each other on the street, so finally, Smith convinced her to let him take her out to lunch.
“Every Tuesday Amy Joe and I now have Lunch together. For 30 min to an hour I get to hear how positive she is even though she really has nothing. Last week Amy Joe kind of dropped a bomb on me…she cannot read. Amy Joe does not smoke, drink, have a drug addiction, or anything to that nature. She simply just has never had anyone teach her how to read,” Smith wrote in a post to Facebook, which has gone viral.
“She told me how hard it was for her to find work not being able to read. She began to tell me any money that she can collect she uses to check out library books that help with learning to read instead of buying FOOD. This crushed me!!! She would rather learn to read to maybe find a job than eat!!!”
“I have been blessed with two amazing parents and a family that has always had resources to provide me with anything I wanted to do. Amy Joe has not. So now not only do Amy Joe and I sit and have lunch, I’m teaching her to read. I rent one library book a week and we read it together Tuesday and she practices on her own throughout the rest of the week.”
“This post is in no way to make anyone feel sorry for Amy Joe or brag about me doing something for someone less fortunate,” Smith explained. “I wanted to share this because maybe this can lead to someone helping another person. There are a lot of people out there like Amy Joe, not all are hungry, homeless, or hurt. Some could be your family or friends. Helping someone could be as easy as saying hello and smiling. I have been fortunate enough in my finances that I can take care of Amy Joe, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
Can you believe this homeless woman was spending all the money she had on books instead of food? Let us know what you think in the comments below, and please SHARE this with friends on Facebook.
[Featured image credit: Facebook/Greg Smith]
Man Gets Lunch With Homeless Woman Once A Week To Teach Her How To Read is an article from: LifeDaily