Single mom of 4 stranded in rain with kids and dead truck cried as drivers ignored her — then 74-yr-old with a limp restored her faith
Sometimes, one might not even realize the amount of impact their kindness has made on a person. A single mother of four felt lucky to get such kindness from an old man who walked up to her during her time of need. The mom, Tawny Nelson, had gone to the store with her four kids for supplies when her truck's battery died. It was raining and the woman had no one to call for help. She had been waiting in the dark for hours and no one had stopped to help her either. Until a 74-year-old man walked up to her and solved her concerns, per Fox 13 News.
The story had initially been shared by Frank Somerville, a retired KTVU anchor, back in 2016. The old man had restored the Florida mom's faith in humanity, according to the outlet. The woman had four daughters aged nine, five, two and a newborn. Things had been really hard for the family since Tawny's ex-partner left them. "My truck had a flat I constantly had to air up. The driver's side window motor died. And I needed a new alternator belt." As the truck was in such a bad condition, the family didn't drive anywhere unless they absolutely had to. "Well, the other day we desperately needed to go to the store. So we loaded up and drove to the Winn-Dixie about 9 blocks away."
By the time the family got out of the store, the weather had gotten really bad and it was way past dark. Nonetheless, Tawny loaded up her kids and groceries into the truck and tried to crank it, but it was all in vain. "One of my girls accidentally left a light on. My battery was dead. My phone was also disconnected." The woman had no family she could reach out to at that moment. "I got out and opened my hood to be sure my battery hadn't come loose. Nope." She tried asking for help to around 20 people, but she was ignored. "My five-year-old was melting down. My newborn screaming, my two-year-old crying, she was hungry and my oldest desperately trying to help." Tawny felt like the "worst mom ever."
In that moment, an old man walked up to her. He limped to the truck and knocked on the truck's passenger side window. "He handed me a plate of chicken strips and biscuits from the deli and bottles of water." He explained, "Feed those babies and yourself young lady. I have a tow truck on the way and my wife will be here shortly to take y'all home." The family was taken home along with the truck. "The next morning, the gentleman returned to my house with a mechanic who replaced my battery and alternator and fixed my window." The man also paid for all the repairs and left before the mechanic could reveal the same to the woman.
"He said that the only payment the older man wanted was for me to never give up and keep being an amazing mom." She went on, "I've never cried so hard in my life. Things had been absolutely awful. More so than I care to explain. Without knowing us or our situation, this kind man helped us in ways he will never know," Tawny expressed. "What he did revived my faith when I was falling apart. But he wouldn't even take a hug. I'll never be able to thank him." The woman hoped to show kindness to someone in exchange for the kindness the stranger had shown to her.
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