Can you imagine being homeless, living your life out of the back of a van and doing whatever you can to earn some cash?
What would you do if your van, effectively your home, burned down with everything in it, including all the money you have managed to earn and save?
That was what happened to George, his van caught fire on Thanksgiving eve and he thought he’d lost everything.
Luckily for him, some of his neighbors at the San Jose encampment where they all live immediately jumped into action and saved George’s two dogs who were inside the van.
The next day, when the fire had been put out and was no longer smoldering, a few people gathered around to sort through the wreckage.
2 of these searchers were Gretchen Pace and Kimberly Williams.
Gretchen and Kimberly had spoken to George, who was in the hospital for an unrelated illness, and he said he’d lost some money, money that he was going to use to go and visit his family.
As they were searching through what remained of George’s van and belongings, both women made remarkable discoveries.
Gretchen found money that had been protected by a blanket, and Kimberly found some in a metal tin.
The money Kimberly had found was slightly damaged by the fire with the edges being singed a bit, but it wasn’t in horrible shape and the serial numbers were still clear and present.
When the women went to tell George they had found his money he broke down into tears and thanked them profusely.
“He offered me money,” says Gretchen, “but I said no.”
She countered his generous offer and said, “Just give me enough for a pack of cigarettes.” She even turned down his offer of buying her dinner saying that coffee and a donut was enough for her.
Both women say they were just thankful that George and his dogs were ok and that he’ll be able to go and visit his family.
This is not the first case of a homeless person finding a large amount of money and returning it to its rightful owner.
There have been stories of people finding wallets and credit cards and going out of their way to return them.
There was even a trend going around a few years ago of a person giving homeless people credit cards with $500 limits and telling them to go have fun, then return the card at the end of the day.
The majority of people spent less than $100 of the $500 limit by only buying food and maybe a new pair of shoes, or a sleeping bag.
When asked why the women decided to return the money instead of keeping it for themselves they both said very similar things; Gretchen said, “…anybody in their right mind, and heart, and soul would, it’s the holiday season.”
And Kimberly said, “Anybody that has compassion or empathy would just do that naturally.”
While people are calling the two women hero’s, they don’t believe that, they are just grateful that 3 lives were saved.
Meet the good Samaritans who helped save George’s Christmas in the video below.
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