Hungry Teen Goes to Kroger to Ask Strangers for Food, He Has No Idea Life is About to Change Forever

Some people will go to any length to advance in life. Instead of waiting for life to happen to him, one adolescent opted to confront his fate head-on. With only a bus pass and no money, he set out for the “rich” area of town. He was about to do something he’d never done before, but he knew he had to.

Inside the Highland Kroger, Chauncey Black approached a stranger with a request that would change his life forever.

Chauncy Black, 16, was dealt a hand that most of us could never imagine having to deal with. He had a place to live with his mother, but he didn’t have enough food. The poor kid was famished! So he did the only thing he could think of and went to the one place he could think of that had plenty of food: a Kroger grocery store in a posh area.

Despite his lack of funds, Chauncy was able to scrape together enough change for a bus pass that would bring him there and back. In exchange for a mouthful of food, he planned to give work. But he had no idea that a fortuitous encounter with a stranger would forever change his life.

Chauncy boldly approached a stranger inside the Kroger grocery store and asked if he could carry his groceries to the car in exchange for a pack of doughnuts. He is, after all, a teenager!

The young man’s request moved the nice stranger, Matt White.

“This kid appeared to have been turned down a hundred times.” He appeared embarrassed, hungry, and bereft. I screamed a loud “yes!” in my head, but all I replied to him was, “Yeah man, we’ll grab you some doughnuts.”

Matt soon discovered Chauncy didn’t have a phone, only a bus pass, and a starving mother at home. Chauncy was relying on the kindness of a stranger to feed him before his bus arrived in less than an hour.

Matt wasn’t going to hand over a single pack of donuts to the teen and call it a day. It was clear that the kid needed assistance. How could he possibly overlook that? The Good Samaritan then proceeded to fill the cart with various items for Chauncy to carry home to his mother.

“It goes without saying that he and I went on a buying spree.” We had a great time! We grabbed cereal, chips, frozen vegetables, pizzas, Cheetos, melons, and spaghetti, peanut butter, milk, soap, and toothbrushes, a little bit of everything.”

Matt discovered that the entrepreneurial young guy was a straight-A student who was attempting to acquire a job to assist his mother pay rent while they were shopping for all the goods Chauncy and his mother needed to survive.

“This kid was incredible. Chauncy continued referring to himself as poor, but he promised me that one day he would be wealthy and run his own businesses, allowing him to aid others in his area by buying groceries for them, just like I did. “I was speechless.”

Even though Chauncy had a difficult start in life, he had high hopes of assisting others who were in need.

Chauncey accepted a lift instead of riding the bus, but when he returned home, he and his mentally ill mother were taken aback by the stranger’s kindness.

“I gave him a lift home so he wouldn’t have to use the bus, and I was genuinely humbled when we arrived at his house. He wasn’t joking when he said that. He and his mother were penniless. There were no beds or furniture in the room. They slept on sleeping bag pads, had two lanterns, and had nothing in their refrigerator.”

Matt could see Chauncy’s mother was in poor health because she trembled excessively and struggled to move.

Matt could see optimism returning to Chauncy’s eyes as the two unpacked the food. It was as though he had reverted to being a typical youngster.

“As I was leaving, I hugged him and told him how much God loved him and that he was going to be a great guy.” That hug will stay with me forever. It mattered more to me than any of my other possessions.”

That “goodbye” was not, however, the end of this lovely narrative. That day, Matt didn’t just leave Chauncy with a bag of groceries. He created a GoFundMe campaign to seek funds for the essentials that this family required.

Chauncy required trousers for his mother as well as a $10 Ross gift card. He felt embarrassed by his soiled clothing. But Chauncy didn’t just get a $10 gift card; $341K was raised to help this family with their basic necessities. It also meant Chauncy could buy the tools he’d need to establish his own lawn-mowing company.

It also meant he’d be able to sleep in a proper bed for the first time.

Strangers’ goodwill never ceases to astonish me. Not only did Matt assist Chauncy and his mother, but the outpouring of support on social media was also overwhelming. Despite the significant sum of money received on his behalf, Chauncy felt compelled to start his own business in order to be self-sufficient and help others. What a fantastic adolescent!