The story I am about to tell is amazing on a number of levels. This time of year has been referred to as a season of miracles, and this is certainly evidence that miracles do exist. It seems that a young filmmaker named Josh spotted a man named Thomas, panhandling near a freeway entrance. Josh approached Thomas and briefly chatted with him before handing him a $100 bill. What Thomas didn't know was that Josh had a hidden camera and both that meeting and the trip to a liquor store that Thomas took minutes later was all recorded.
That Thomas received one hundred dollars from a stranger is pretty good, even if his tale was being put into a video, but what warms you heart is that Thomas, who minutes earlier had nothing, went and bought food and gave it to other poor people - folks he didn't even know. Josh reentered the picture at this point to tell Thomas he was being recorded and to praise Thomas for being generous in his own poverty. Josh then gives Thomas an additional hundred dollars.
Are you still with me? This is pretty incredible stuff so far, right? Of course some might shrug it off as a stunt by Josh to build some publicity for himself. Helping out someone with $200 isn't that high a price to pay to become famous. It seems though that Josh already is famous to internet watchers. He makes funny videos that are available on youtube. It was from the posting of his video that most people first heard this story. Then a huge miracle occurred. Josh created an online fundraiser to gather more money for Thomas and really get him back on his feet. Using indiegogo and setting a $10,000 goal, Thomas set this all up on Monday (two days ago). Well, they made that goal within a few hours!
The picture you see above is from this morning when I woke up. As you can see, the fundraising from Thomas already had 2,887 funders and even if each of them had only donated a dollar, that would be pretty remarkable. The donation amounts have varied though and the total then was $51,881 and it continues to grow. I just checked, and right now the total stands at $64,752 and who knows how big it will get? Click HERE if you want to give too or even if you just want to check out the fundraising site or want to share it with others.
I'll definitely keep you updated on this. It is an amazing story and it's so perfect at this time of year. It shows that there are a lot of caring and generous people in the world who do indeed make a difference. It seems to me with this momentum that we could feed all of the hungry if we really put our minds to it!
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