When Jim Ford was a teenager he used to break into people’s cars.
When he grew up, he repossessed them.
“I always say that my time doing stupid stuff was training for my future profession,” he told GoFundMe.
Eventually, the day occurred where he got to give back for all the taking he did as a teen.
Ford was dispatched to the home of Standford and Patty Kipping for their defaulting on their $95 per month payment for their 1998 Buick.
He came across a police officer when he reached their home.
“Ahh man,” the officer said. “That’s the elderly couple down there at the end.”
Ford decided that instead of taking their car at 2 a.m. He would call them in the morning asking them to pay the bank to avoid repossession.
That’s when he learned why they defaulted on their payments. The Kipping’s had fell on hard times after having medical difficulties.
Standford, a war veteran and retired janitor, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Their medical bills and medication costs became too great for their fixed income. As a result, the Kippings fell into debt.
“It was pretty rough,” Pat said. “We didn’t have money to pay our bills and the drug store.”
When Ford met the couple he felt sorry for them but he still took their car.
And the Kippings didn’t fight him on it either.
“I’m not a shirker,” Pat said. “If you owe something, I believe you should pay it.”
She just trusted that her faith would see her through. And it surely did.
“When he took the car I said ‘God do whatever, whatever you think is best for us,” she told CBS Evening News. “You know, God works in mysterious ways.”
And that couldn’t be truer… especially in this case. Ford only made it about a block away before he started feeling guilty and called the bank. He convinced the bank to let him pay their balance of $350.
“They are America’s grandparents,” he said. “I saw my grandparents in them.”
He decided to start a GoFundMe campaign to see if they could raise enough money to pay the rest of the $2,800 loan off completely.
Not only did they raise enough money to pay off the car but there was extra. When he called to tell the Kippings the good news they were completely shocked.
“She almost had a heart attack, I think,” Ford said joking. “I gave her the extra money that we raised, and she was so happy… It was a good day.”
Ford returned their car back and even detailed it for them.
“We found out that there is good people out there,” Pat said. “We called him our guardian angel.”
Ford remained friends and in contact with the Kippings. He later learned that Stanford got sick and was hospitalized. He ended up dying two days later.
Those medical bills cost about $25,000.
Unfortunately the fact that Stanford served this country as a veteran wouldn’t pay his bills. So when the system failed this family, a once complete stranger pitched in to help again.
Ford started another GoFundMe campaign and ended up raising a total of $35,037 to help Pat pay medical bills and funeral costs.
“Thank God I got Stan his brand new pair of pants that he never wore because I had something to bury him in. It’s like little things that I think of like that, you know, at least he had his pants,” she told the Miami Herald.
Ford says he hopes his act of kindness will inspire others to help people in their communities.
“I just hope that someone goes out and does something nice for someone else. That would be great. Just pay it forward,” he told The Washington Post. “I’m getting so many calls from all over the country, and everyone’s so inspired by it. I’m like, oh yeah, there’s something I didn’t think I’d ever hear: Jim Ford, Mr. Inspirational.”
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