Strangers' Kindness Changes Mom's Tough Day

A post by a mother of four young girls in America is making waves online. 

In the post, 37-year-old single mom Tawny shares her ordeal with her car after a shopping trip with her daughters aged two, five, six, and nine. Tawny explains that since her divorce, she has struggled financially to support herself and her daughters. "My car often broke down but I kept driving it because I had no choice."

She continued, saying she discovered a flat tire shortly prior. "I had to keep filling it with air, and the driver's window wouldn't work. We didn't go anywhere unless we absolutely had to."

One day, she had no choice but to take the girls to the grocery store. "It was a particularly rainy day," she recalls. "We ran out of groceries, and I had to buy food and other essentials. I took the four girls, and we drove to a store nine blocks from our home. After loading the groceries and settling the girls in, the car suddenly wouldn't start. It was pouring rain, the girls were getting impatient, and to top it off, there was no cell service," Tawny recounts. 

It was a nightmare for the young mom. 

She tried flagging down other drivers, but they ignored her and drove away. "Apparently one of the girls left a light on in the car, draining the battery. I asked more than two drivers to stop and help me, but none did. They didn't even say no; they just left as if I wasn't there."

Then her five-year-old began to cry, while the two-year-old screamed from hunger. "My nine-year-old tried to help in any way, but I broke down in the car. I felt like the worst mom in the world. But just when everything seemed lost, I heard a knock on the car window."

Outside stood an older man, around 75, smiling at Tawny. 

Where did he come from? Tawny had no idea - neither for herself nor for others. "He gave us bottles of water and chicken sandwiches he bought for himself and his wife from a nearby deli. Then he called a tow service, said his wife was on her way with their car to drive us home. Yet his kindness didn't end there. The next morning, he returned to our house with a mechanic who replaced the battery, alternator, and even fixed the broken window, without charging a dollar."

Tawny forgot to ask the kind man's name, overwhelmed by emotions and thoughts of how to pay the car mechanic arranged by the generous stranger. 

When the repairs were finished, and she asked about paying in installments, the mechanic smiled and said, "No need. The gentleman who brought me already covered your bill."

Tawny was in disbelief: "I never cried like that. He said the only payment the older man wanted was for me to never give up on the challenges I face and to be a great mom to my daughters. Without knowing us or our financial situation, he helped us in so many ways. He truly restored my faith in the goodness of the world. I can never thank him enough, but I hope one day I can do for someone else what he did for me," she concludes.