Charles Reynolds was living hand to mouth, and says he was "pretty much homeless" when he cashed a pair of paychecks worth $500 at a Walmart in Largo, Florida.
So the last thing he needed was for a thief to run out of the store with his hard-earned money. Reynolds says that when a Walmart employee put his cash on a counter, the thief "politely reached around and snatched it, right off the counter, I mean right next to the register."
But the 26-year-old suspect, Chad Alves-Cardoso, probably wasn't expecting 60-year-old Reynolds to chase him out of the store.
Security footage caught the men dashing out of the store, as Cardoso dropped bills and even punched Reynolds to get the older man off his tail. The bold thief eventually jumped over a cement wall and got away.
Police later tracked the man down, but weren't able to recover the stolen money. Thankfully, a good Samaritan with a difficult life story of her own heard about Reynolds and his story.
Unlike most of us who hear about a sad news story and change the channel, Kari Diaz decided to actually do something to help. She managed to collect $500 for the elderly homeless man, but just how she raised the money has everyone talking.
Diaz reveals that she connected with Reynolds and his story, because seven years ago she had fallen on hard times.
"I was a single mom, living in low income housing about seven years ago," she told ABC Action News. At the time, Diaz had to rely on the Salvation Army just to get Christmas presents for her children.
"I know what it is to be poor," she says.
But Diaz doesn't just have hundreds of dollars lying around to give out. Instead, she worked overtime for a whole week just to raise the extra money for Reynolds.
"I worked all weekend. I worked about 10 hours each day. I worked about two hours more each day. To have enough money to do stuff like this."
During their emotional meeting at the Largo Police Department, it was clear this act of kindness meant a lot for both Diaz and Reynolds.
"Well thank you!" the homeless man said, obviously overcome with emotion. "You know, I normally wouldn't even think about taking it, but right now, I'm not really in the position to say no."
Reynolds got even more good news, because Walmart agreed to reimburse him for the value of both paychecks, but Diaz's act of charity was even more special.
What an incredible woman! Bless her for helping him like this.
[H/T: ABC]
