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Originally Posted by bkcunningham1
I just got back home from Walmart on 441. We took the golf cart and went along the path from Paradise Drive to Lowe's and then along behind Aldi's to Walmart. My husband and I noticed balloons tied in the bushes along the path. Before we could finish guessing why there were balloons, we were greeted by a beautiful smiling face of a young boy I'd guess is about 9 or 10 years old. He said, "Hello."
He shifted from one foot to the other on legs sporting a pair of too small pants that had been cut off just below the knees. He was watching us and smiling while his eyes lit up the dark wooded corner near the Walmart parking lot near the transformer station where the homeless person was found dead last year. As we were taking it all in, we saw a man shoveling sand like there was no tomorrow just feet from the boy. The boy pointed to a plastic jug that said donations were welcome for filling in the holes along the path. The words were misspelled, but their meaning was pretty clear.
My husband got some money from his pocket and asked the kid if he was working to fix the path. He said, "Yes sir." My husband told him good work and to thanked him. He took the money and the man shoveling sand never stopped.
It tore at my heart. On the way back, the man was gone and there was a woman there with the same young boy. She wasn't shoveling, but we saw an old pickup truck on the parking lot yards from them with a blue tarp pitched on the back. I can just about guarantee that they are living out of that truck.
It reminded me of a sermon I heard once called, In the Shadow of the Steeple. It was about the widows, homeless, poor, sick and struggling people who lived within the shadow of the church but were overlooked. I think most of us are guilty of this. It was a Life Lesson for me today and I just wanted to share it with you.
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Thanks for sharing,Jesus said, the poor will be with us always. I was told by a native to this area once that Sumter Co. was the poorest County in Florida.