When you’re living on the streets, it’s easy to feel like you’re invisible.
Each day passersby pay little attention to the people huddling under tattered blankets on city sidewalks. The cold and uncertainty about where you’ll find your next meal must be excruciating. When someone takes notice of those hardships and extends the hand of friendship and humanity to those in need, it’s a truly beautiful thing.
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Shad Saleen of Blyth, England owns a fish and chips shop called Gino’s Fish Inn. One day, Shad realized that someone was going through the shop’s trash bins in search of something to eat.
John Tuttiett
Shad immediately resolved to do whatever he could to help the man. In Shad’s exclusive interview with News Post Leader he said, “I know that there are people out there who perhaps need some help with problems that they may wish to keep to themselves but the offer of help is there if they want it.”
So he sat down at his computer and typed out a simple note to leave near the garbage bins in hope the man would return. He addressed the letter “Dear Human Being.”
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“Dear human being, if you are the person going through our bins for your next meal then how about you pop in and I’ll give you a bottle of water and a little snack for free, you are worth more than a meal from a bin.
We may also be able to direct you to facilities in the town that may help you.”
Later that day, Shad’s friend Dang Vuong came by the shop for lunch and noticed the sign. While he was moved by his friend’s kind and generous nature, he was not at all surprised.
“Shad’s always been like that, so it doesn’t surprise me that he’d want to help,” Dang explained. “There are a lot of people in Blyth who do that sort of thing, it’s a real community of people who are really trying to stick by each other.”
Therefore it also came as no surprise, that Shad was recently awarded the Rotarian of the Year Award for his tireless work in the community.
John Tuttiett
Dang decided to shed a little light on his friend’s good deed, hoping it might start a chain reaction of goodness in their community. He shared the note on his Facebook page, where thousands of people saw it and shared it.
“Seeing something like that proves how much poverty is still happening, it’s quite shocking,” Dang said. “I just wanted to share it and if people see it then the next time they see someone who needs help, they might go and ask what they can do. I think sometimes people are scared to ask for help, so just reaching out, speaking to them, pointing them in the direction of places where they can get help, is really important.”
John Tuttiett
Truer words have seldom been spoken. All it takes is a little bit of empathy, along with a knowledge that anyone could fall on hard times and need a helping hand sometimes, to give you the courage to help when you see a need.
Please share this story to encourage everyone to help others in need around them.
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