Louisiana boy scores shopping spree after trying to give away his last dollar
By: Kevin Connor - Toronto Sun
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Louisiana boy scores shopping spree after trying to give away his last dollar
Kelvin Ellis Jr. offered his last dollar to who he thought was a homeless man last month after seeing a disheveled-looking man standing outside of a Baton Rouge, La., coffee shop. PHOTO BY CBS NEWS
A nine-year-old boy in Louisiana was gifted a shopping spree after trying to give his only dollar to a man he thought was homeless.
Kelvin Ellis Jr. made the offering last month after seeing a disheveled-looking man standing outside a Baton Rouge, La., coffee shop.
“If you’re homeless, here’s a dollar,” the youngster recalled saying, according to CBS News.
9-year-old Kelvin Ellis Jr. wanted to help the homeless, so he offered his last dollar to a man he saw praying outside a Louisiana café. To his surprise, the man was a multimillionaire, who has now been inspired by Kelvin's generosity. @SteveHartmanCBS is On the Road. pic.twitter.com/MUv9ipfnvP
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) May 3, 2024
But the man wasn’t homeless — he was local sporting goods store owner Matt Busbice.
Busbice — who has several companies worth hundreds of millions of dollars — found himself outside that morning in mismatched clothes after he was forced outside because of a fire alarm in his building.
The 42-year-old decided to go for a cup of coffee while he waited.
“And I started to slowly open my eyes and there’s a kid coming at me, about my height,” Busbice said.
The boy handed him a dollar.
Even though it was the only money he had to his name, Kelvin was eager to give it to someone in need.
“I always wanted to help a homeless person and I finally had the opportunity,” Kelvin said.
Busbice was so touched that he invited Kelvin for a snack and connected with the boy’s father before ultimately inviting the kind-hearted child to a shopping spree at his sporting goods store.
Kelvin had 40 seconds to pick out whatever he wanted, including a new bike.
Kelvin said he wasn’t looking for a reward when he gave up his dollar.
“(I feel) joy because I helped someone,” Kelvin said. “Give something away and you feel like you’ve got a lot of things from it.”
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You never know when karma will repay you in spades, so never waste an opportunity to do what this kid did.
The parents of this young man should be proud.
Absolutely. They must have beer very conscionable with his upbringing.
Give and ye shall receive.
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.” —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Yup:
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
KJV, Luke 6:38
I had a musician friend named Luke. He wasn't the Luke who said it. Although, interestingly enough, his band was called "Luke and the Apostles" TRUE!!!
This story has value because the child decided to give. What resulted, while heart warming, is irrelevant. Doing what is right is its own reward. Nothing can compare to that. More often than not, doing what is right costs more than the doing. Where do you think the maxim "no good deed goes unpunished" comes from?
I don't agree that the value of this story is limited only to the giving. IMO what resulted from his unselfish act is equally important to the story and creates a lesson, not to expect a reward, but it proves that there can be consequences to what a person does, and in this case, very much unlike the consequences that are bound to happen to the Hamas-supporting protesters, but in this case good, positive consequences.
I've heard people refer to that as "instant karma" ("instant" because you don't have to wait to be reincarnated into the next lifetime to gain rewards of positive actions).
And then this this::
Your actions have consequences
(Unfortunately now-a-days there seems to be an ever-increasing number of people trying to convince people of the opposite!
)
I'll take my karma instant, without cream, thanks.
He's a good kid, and obviously comes from a good family. Don't we wish that there were a whole lot more like him, although it's probably safe to say that there are.
My kids did a lemonade stand on the street outside our home to raise money for the Variety Club telethon that raises funds for disadvantaged kids. They appeared on TV presenting their cash proceeds to the telethon host, Monty Hall.
Nice.
They were great kids and grew up gaining good educations that secured them for their very successful careers - never a problem, never a burden. I think my ex-wife and I were very lucky.
Was it entirely luck...or...???
Or...I guess it could have been an "or".
There are a lot of wonderful people doing wonderful things-- but of course they don't all make the news.
There's a saying in the news industry:
If it bleeds it leads.
And here we'd post them as seeds.