I wrote about serendipity regarding a volunteer project I’m doing and wouldn’t you know it has just happpened again. ESI Money announced a contest to give away $500 via his readers. He sent the “winners” (with the best stories related to what they’d do with the money) each a $50 gift card. But it isn’t for the winner to spend on himself, rather he or she is to find someone to give $50 to and then to return to the Millionaire Money Mentors forum to tell everyone what happened.
I was selected as one of the winners and received my Amazon gift card earlier this week. Immediately I began looking around for someone in need I could help out in this small way, but I was not making any progress. And then disaster struck almost in my front yard! I got a text from my next door neighbor that she had heard a terrible crash in front of her house. She’s my neighbor, but its a full quarter mile between our houses so I had not heard anything. I hurried down to see if first aid was needed and met my neighbor at the wreck. It was a bad one. Just one vehicle, and nobody badly injured, but the car had flipped over a few times. Obviously she was flying down the road at a speed far in excess of what was legal or safe. The vehicle was beyond totaled. You could barely tell it was a car, and certainly not what kind.
The driver was banged up and bleeding and hysterical. I think I had seen her before but did not know her name. Its a small town so that isn’t unusual. We asked her if she needed help, got her a clean towel and a bottle of water but she was too rattled to communicate rationally. I did spend some time helping her hunt for her eyeglasses, which we never found. Eventually the sheriff deputies got there and after interviewing her they let her leave with a friend. They towed the car out less than fifteen minutes later and it was as if it had never happened. I wished I had brought my wallet because right then I realized this was the person I was supposed to give the $50.
In a bizarre stroke of irony her car flew over and landed next to a small shrine to the victim of a fatal car wreck a year ago at exactly the same spot. In an even weirder set of circumstances a second fatal accident had occurred directly across the road less than fifty feet away when a pedestrian was struck and killed as he walked home in the dark after an argument with friends. Just a couple hundred yards up the street, in the very curve where this girl lost control, a woman we went to church with died in a car wreck. I also responded several years ago to a location in the woods less than 200 yards distant to a fatal tree cutting accident that killed a neighbor’s friend. And at the risk of being totally morbid another neighbor died only slightly further away when he overturned a tractor he was driving in his yard. All five of these fatalities occurred during the time we have lived in our house and all the accident sites would be in easy sight of each other except for the dense woods. These tragic events occurred in a very small and sparsely populated neighborhood. Not a place where you’d expect anyone to die, other than peacefully in their sleep.
By the time I got back to my house the girl was gone, even her car had been towed away. I thought I had missed a chance to do something providential. But today, coming home from a tough tennis match, I saw a car parked in our local deadly Bermuda Triangle right where the girl had wrecked. As I got closer I saw it was the same girl picking through the debris left behind after they towed the car away. She was still trying to find her glasses so I stopped and helped her hunt again. It was a futile effort, they were probably in the creek her car had sailed over while it spun through the air. It really was a miracle she lived. I warned her about getting too close to the creek because it was overgrown and has a healthy population of water moccasins. I knew that since it runs near my house and, well, its full of snakes. We didn’t find her glasses, but I realized I had my wallet with me this time and fished out the fifty dollars and gave it to her. She burst into tears. It was obvious she had very little and that fifty dollars was a big deal in her present circumstances. I got a heart felt hug and we parted ways. I realized I had been given a second chance to send the money right where it needed to go.
What a curious set of circumstances. In my entire life this is the first time I’ve ever been tasked with giving away a specific amount of money in a short time period. And then to cross paths with someone in such obvious need only a couple of days later seems like such an unlikely coincidence. I wonder, do I pass people in need every day and only noticed this time because I had been given the money? Maybe we should all pretend we are carrying some money that doesn’t belong to us but is meant for someone who needs it more? I’m going to try to adopt that mindset this Christmas season, that every day when I wake up I find I’ve been given something to give away to someone else.
What about you? Have you been in just the right place at just the right time to help someone in need?
As usual, if you don’t see a comments box click on the title at the top of the post.
Amazing story, Steve. There’s great need all around us, we just need to train our eyes to see. That was one lucky girl, surviving your “Bermuda Triangle”. Crazy how many deaths you’ve had in one small area. I think I’d get in the habit of avoiding that area. 😉
Its on the way to town, hard to avoid! I agree we can be oblivious to needs unless we are actively looking for them.
What a story! I thought it was going to end with you buying a sign for that road that said SLOW DOWN. It is interesting how much your perspective can shift when you have a specific goal in mind. I might try walking through life as if I have $5 gift cards to give to everyone and, in place of a gift card, offer up a little kindness instead.
The road is county owned and maintained and there is basically no shoulder between the road and a steep ditch and large trees. There have been several accidents at that spot including the two fatalities but all the county roads are equally dangerous if you drive too fast. Its a 45 mph speed limit but there is little enforcement on county roads because the county is huge geographically but only has 40,000 population so the sheriff’s department is spread very thin. I do think just having the task of giving away the money away changed my mindset.
Steve,
Wonderful story. A small gesture can be enormous for the right person in the right circumstance. You’ve inspired me to think about those vet techs that take care of my dog throughout the year. We often remember to express our gratitude to our doctors or vets, but we often miss the ancillary staff.
That’s great Amanda, but I did little. ESI was the guy!
WOW! What a story. Made me a little teary-eyed. Thanks for sharing
Thanks Janet, I’ve won some contests where I received several hundred dollars in prizes but getting to hand that $50 to that woman, that felt way better than anything I kept for myself!
Beautiful. I have been doing something similar during the pandemic. I am sort of randomly giving away half of my disposable budget to someone in need.
Wow, Caroline, you are truly a Christmas angel! I’m going to look for more opportunities to give. It can be kind of hard to figure out who is in genuine need and who is running a scam. Especially in a rural area like ours, we don’t have people at intersections or homeless wandering the town like is common in big cities. Many times people in need here hide the fact they are hurting. Sometimes when a house burns or a tree falls on it then its obvious, or a car wreck. But those are rare events. And like most people my friends are generally people like me and my family, having plenty of resources and no financial needs. Most of my giving has been to organizations who already have a system for finding genuine needs and for weeding out scammers. But that isolates you from the person you are helping so you never know if you did any good or not.
Wow. What a story. We donate to charities regularly, but one of the things I’m trying to will my otherwise powerfully frugal brain to do is to be far more generous. Maybe focusing on giving away smaller amounts (or physical goods), more regularly to individuals physically close to home is a way to do that for me. I don’t need any “thank yous” from recipients. Much less accolades. Just to see someone’s face light up at receiving something of far greater value to them than to me.
What a great thing that you did. Thank you for being a good human being. I hope her life is better because of your gesture.
Thanks David!
Thanks for the post. Steve, I was wondering what area of Arkansas you’d recommend for semi-retirement (54 years old this summer, wife age 52). Thanks in advance
Hot Springs is where most of my friends have built retirement homes. Bella Vista is popular. Also the Heber Springs area or Around Fayetteville/Springdale/Rogers. One of my college buddies just retired to Maumelle, Arkansas which is a Little Rock suburb.
Thanks! Much appreciated.
Thank you for commenting!