Just before Kenneth Smith met a stranger in the front of an Outback Steakhouse, he was jobless, homeless, and hungry.
“I’ve been homeless for, like, a good four years,” Smith told NBCDFW. “Wondering how am I going to get a meal? Who am I going to turn to? Who can I ask?”
But Smith didn’t have to ask. That’s because a complete stranger offered.
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And because that stranger offered to help, one of the restaurant’s managing partners, Laura Hodges, also decided to help Smith.
Then the members of the community all pitched too, and now Smith is no longer hungry, homeless, or jobless. He says it’s all thanks to God.
“God is good,” Smith told WFAA. “If he can do it for me, he can do it for anybody else.”
The stranger first came across Smith when he was sitting in a chair outside an Outback Steakhouse in Fort Worth, Texas.
She asked him if he was OK and he told her the truth: he wasn’t.
So, she handed him a $100 gift card so that he could enjoy dinner inside of the steakhouse.
https://www.facebook.com/CapitalCityMall/photos/basw.AbrBt9IyEk2cHB5d6kVOuEg9_c8cDJkEgfvWnIC5uTlkdJqG2j_IFUIRj2hj3kH1tyZIjyi6Qn87U9sFhYZibjTrMcYkqa5nyUuMNBOqPUWYVhaG-vmtENaVEugFISQt_ycGPvqCmRZTshE66H3JJ8I0_m5nGArG2IiXQ5IEa_gyHQ/10157140373890805/?opaqueCursor=Abp4-yXL9jMYTlOIloXGBFrKg7QiLgEBCXfttHFClznegttFTGBqSGdnyHOd-wVVqYDxspuVpFTwcjz1l-qwQQh9R6wqTb7Ns-UxhSJkB1_8DKpQXWLq5nmzHTmnW-zGbPnM7AQtdEEsrqyvvqxEYdGQXkHzC9yRk85cxB-3QnWCOuZ_Vwev_OSDwWO6C27PvEm3AwI4hQeE23zg1PhupYX3dghYzGAeiQf-NQ6vEDA1KWW2tLF7qyKrIlJDVGao_0zJgN1kyKRBE5tg-nVr9AZCNijbaxoFJcLBcnsJQbPpwE5wEUdNJbkucn2iP_5xsfbzqtV_9ymukQBJP-Dg27vLZWNPnDL3BDbpBWBsP-lENEKC0aiJ9QROTxPqoE1Q23AcnZ-WrrmgoluN4wAM4iZKupLS4B-5mQoDD26WA_kph8gpSTZrwE2UhHEb-Fkvn7l964eulLXQhd9uQsDrsc6srR1AwjoAsCmk9sPs4a93I_B3NjebfJaBxgnYUUf-jQNOLYnHyoayPqMWsC1mkLMU0cTlYY5-C7qhu1DMcw9SJgygmSN0fdCFXSWWds9qJwdbb2iQ5VzWjaiLVIcxb5gLAxcGw1fVJv-gv2vQ5QE6zKfQwtQm_8Lrk4_CZcKejql9zRv8eXFGsNPFzDdkx-GGPMkUzjIKHLE5Ky1vllQG5nLoXNsQJIDdIicMaxwafHyhWt2ctsebip6RIITxrTAfiuo_L3XK23ZJCBp6LvcTSg
“I noticed he was a little apprehensive, so I started talking to him,” Hodges said of Smith when he came into the restaurant. “And then he disclosed to me he was homeless.”
Smith and Hodges ended up chatting after his meal and she offered to continue feeding him.
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“I said, ‘Hey, I don’t ever want you to want for food or go hungry’,” Hodges said. “I want you to always have somewhere that you can get a warm meal. So, here’s my business card. Bring it anytime.”
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Hodges had been feeding Smith at the restaurant for about five months.
And when an opening for a busboy position came along, he took the job working six days a week.
“I enjoy every bit of it,” Smith told NBCDFW of his new job. “It’s like treasure to me.”
https://www.facebook.com/NBCDFW/posts/10158563239432690
But it’s difficult to maintain a job when you don’t know where you’re going to sleep at night.
So, Hodges decided to ask on a local Facebook page if anyone knew motels that had affordable rates.
The local community was definitely ready to help and ended up paying for Smith’s six-week stay at a local Extended Stay hotel.
They also hooked him up with $2,200, a bike, clothing, kitchen items, and groceries.
“I had absolutely no idea that people were going to latch onto that,” Hodges said. “All they wanted to do was throw assistance out there and resources in any way that they possibly could.”
https://www.facebook.com/385087818211811/photos/basw.Abrlfk7kGCh98M6fNW7ou9DbVA3qJuWGsjbg5p3V4G2j6a9Dndlku6_f0blgcOlQ_2eJtu080XTx0xnHU4xPSMLnQmZK8r9m9i5Wqsb9m1XfJ8G7ZGCmjncXKzkNBa-nYlnqqwpdnWruBm58oiIIllxhlwKCpMak4fzX6RFF2GqMcg/3840460256007866/?opaqueCursor=AbqGQdjsZRubpb1roccVD3JmrdXAEvqeIhZV7gQ3hUNXWYAll01dQP9BPoLbWe4Qt2eGq0n-XiMorrYtJjG5-9MYmkvqTo3Dee77SBc3rt0EO5fSGyVC3IDwmdzNJMVUfVxMD0wIPOcBR1RJ8xVo6J01KYwlWEaZp_eUoPHbexkuKmPqkkrRpS_nhwAu5BnDNz2WHcd8cibbf-G9aHsJT96I_vTLMF2S6HG4cUxVK7CHbJPVFdF6fJ49OOCaVf-TG3LCj3_segsuTe1z_XHv5FJ17UtnichclL6C8zFKjFjHSsZSwnJo0sowsWGZxjJcS4jbWudv-mmuleI5-bEZIOCY-1f400avukdngO5un23CxJ6IP6ayz6JGlIMnFRx4h1orOP8DpYy0PBy2RkQGmRfq1XyUpuYRHXN-rlzulhLku_7lyRAHPCJhf3kENCASoTkdoB_RHWqQmJt2mrf3owuMi3wVQ9dCDUxry7K1fxmM8BIZVGCbM2W6rL4oJ6X_OD4qG1dqk3tnXtSPDN4u-V5_boU7qechRbeTyEpLNQrIbsRgQbbJqCmvofvflbbvQyVH1KNErmDVOq94GbJWYD_Jm_t73aJY5tW-nL2CnzSKB6WK2vBmqzRVX3SKHBQURX0qcFChPqsKBMkgSvcLUeCIYZABAEZYfzDTfdeSvHiPCC0OcbQvIwHZoR2LFemUws_n10-P-MEXUqX6LACueP0ZIlyg3i0iQnPfQPTWFV0pO3BLvxu0tPK6jKvNySc-Flw12xtHURJ7bwXZl2h-zks0d70viDNt4uiisoWuctWKLWKAK-i_ZNTF_an0h8_qmR8
Smith was also overwhelmed by the kindness of his community.
“This is a whole new beginning that God has blessed me with, so I’m trying to get on this right good track that he wants me to stay on,” said Smith.
Smith says he hopes to save money for a car and a home and open a food service business of his own one day.
“I am so overwhelmed and so happy,” Smith said. “It makes me feel so good in my heart.”
Learn more about this incredible story of generosity in the video below.
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