Some say that there are no coincidences, and each person we meet comes into our lives for a reason.
Becca Moore is convinced that she was destined to meet Raul Torres, the Uber driver who spent eight hours helping her after she got robbed at Coachella. Raul really went out of his way to help a total stranger, and his kindness came back to him in the best case of instant karma we’ve seen in ages!
Becca boasts more than 873,000 followers on TikTok, where she usually shares videos on dating as a 20-something in her home state of Tennessee. She recently flew to Indio, California to attend the music and arts festival Coachella. On day three, a man reached into her purse and stole her phone, wallet, and the keys to her rental car.
“I went to Coachella this weekend and I thought this guy was kinda hitting on me but then he just robbed me,” Becca recalled in a video. She was completely stranded!
A friend brought Becca back to their hotel, where staff members hired an Uber to take her to a cell phone store for a replacement. The Uber driver turned out to be Raul Torres of Fresno, California.
Becca was expecting Raul to simply drop her off at the store and drive away, but he was so concerned for her that he insisted on going in with her. It’s a good thing he stayed, because Becca wasn’t able to get a phone! She would have been stranded for the second time that day if Raul hadn’t stayed by her side.
Their next stop, after hitting up Starbucks, was to the local police department. Raul insisted on filing a report about her stolen property. Police tracked the phone to a local AirBnB, but couldn’t locate it. That’s when Raul decided it was time for a break from all the stress, so he splurged on margaritas for both of them!
“Just because he’s an angel on this Earth,” Becca said.
As they sipped their drinks, Becca got to know a little bit more about the driver. Raul confided that he’s driving for Uber to earn extra money because two of his family members have cancer. His teenage daughter is going through chemotherapy, and his father is terminally ill. Becca immediately realized that he was dealing with real troubles, not the temporary variety she was coping with that day. Her heart went out to him!
“He didn’t charge me for the entire day and it was like an entire day of work for him and I was like ‘Why were we so focused on my situation when you’re the one that needed help the entire time,'” she wondered aloud in her video, which has been viewed over 3 million times.
Later, Raul took her by the AirBnB one more time, and this time, her phone was sitting right there on a post! Becca says the thieves most likely left it there after the police stopped by. Raul rented a new car for Becca so she could get home, and they parted ways as friends.
The story could have ended right there, but Becca was so moved by Raul’s selfless actions that day that she decided to use her influence to help him out. She started a GoFundMe, and her followers opened their wallets to reward the man who is going through so much, yet still took a whole day to help a stranger in need.
“He helped me file a police report, he bought me food, and stayed with me from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. until he knew that he was going to be able to go home, because I had a new rental car,” Becca said. “He was just paying it forward the entire day, helping me the entire day and he 100% did not have to.”
Becca set an initial fundraising goal of $1,000, but her fans exceeded those modest hopes. To date, she’s raised almost $230,000 for Raul’s daughter’s medical expenses – and for his father’s funeral expenses.
“I have an update for you guys, Raul’s father lost his battle to cancer this morning,” Becca wrote on the GoFundMe. “This timeline of events has made me realize this wasn’t a coincidence. The people we meet are not really strangers. Please help me keep helping Raul’s family. The Torres family didn’t know they’d wake up this morning with a funeral to plan today too, and I am beyond thankful for your continued donations.”
Becca has since met the whole Torres family, who say she’s “stuck with them for life.” Clearly they are right about the hand of fate being involved!
Please share to celebrate the happy accident that brought these new friends together.
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