It was just another day in Annabelle, Texas, at the local H-E-B grocery store. The aisles were filled with the hum of shoppers and the beep of cash registers.
Amid the everyday routine, though, a simple act of kindness by a young bagger captured the attention of many.
Her name is Maria Balboa.
A grandmother navigating the aisles with her grandkids reached the checkout where Maria was bagging groceries.
After loading their items to be scanned up, the grandmother discovered her government assistance card couldn’t cover the cost of her groceries.
Faced with the tough choice of what to keep and what to leave behind, she decided to hold onto just enough for that evening’s meal, a decision that spoke volumes about her situation.
Maria, a student working part-time, witnessed the family’s dilemma.
That’s when the kind-hearted bagger heard something she couldn’t ignore.
“My heart felt for her and the two little boys,” Maria explained.
“Immediately I heard a voice inside my head saying, ‘pay for the groceries.’ I stopped to think for a second but then I heard again, ‘Pay for the groceries Maria!!'”
The full total of the bill was $137 – not exactly chump change, especially for a student or a struggling grandmother.
Unfortunately, though, the SNAP card only had $19 on it. Even still, Maria was committed to doing what she felt was right.
“$137 was quite a bit of money for me that day, but still I knew that I would get it back on payday and maybe she wouldn’t,” she recalled.
The grandmother was reluctant to take Maria up on her offer, telling her she felt embarrassed to accept.
Maria insisted, however, and the woman thanked her profusely, as well as her two grandsons.
As it turns out, Maria’s gesture was a blessing for both of them.
When she arrived to work the next day, Maria was promptly called into her manager’s office.
Initially, Maria worried she’d gotten in “trouble” for something but those fears instantly vanished when she began reading a customer survey that was put in front of her.
The grandmother was so moved by Maria’s kindness that she couldn’t shake the events of the day.
She had to share her experience with Maria’s employers to let them know what a gem of an employee they have in her.
The survey recounted the incident and explained that she and her grandkids had been struggling for some time.
She even had to accept a lower-paying job just so she could receive the assistance she would need to keep her kids out of foster care.
Times were tough, and Maria’s kindness meant the world to her and her grandbabies.
“My grandkids and I have managed to pull through since January it’s been very tough but God put this young lady at the bagging area for us,” she wrote.
Hearing how Maria had handled the encounter, her manager’s heart swelled with pride.
“We can’t teach someone to have heart,” he said.
Maria couldn’t help but share the whole experience on social media.
She capped her post off with some touching words of wisdom about how much the way we choose to interact with each other matters.
“Always be kind and do a good deed for someone when you can. It can be something as simple as holding the door open for a stranger or complimenting them. Good things done always come back in ways we may not even realize. Always be good to the people around you, because you never know what someone else might have going on,” she wrote.
The details of Maria’s kindness to a grandma in need are precisely what makes it so noteworthy.
People have a lot to learn from earth angels like Maria. Namely, heeding that still, small voice inside that tells you to do something good for others.
It always pays off, in the end.
Learn more about this story from Maria and her manager in the video below!
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