On a flight to Florida to visit her parents, Kimberly Bermudez chatted with her seatmate about her job as a teacher at a charter school in Chicago. She shared that all of her first-graders at Carlos Fuentes Elementary come from low-income families and some are even homeless.
The man seated next to her asked what the most challenging part of her job is and she told him it’s when kids come to school hungry and seeing hard-working immigrant parents struggling to provide basic necessities for their families. She explained that the teachers and administrators at her school dig into their own pockets to buy underwear, soap, school supplies and whatever these kids need because they care about them so much.
That’s when the man sitting behind her tapped her on the shoulder, apologized for eavesdropping and handed her a stack of cash. He told her to “do something amazing.” There was a $100 bill on top, but she didn’t count the money there. Then another passenger said he heard her talking and wanted to help and handed her a $20, and another guy gave her $10 and said that was all he had on him.
Bermudez says she started to cry in gratitude for all the generosity from complete strangers. She thanked them all and later when she counted it, she had $530 for the students she loves thanks to those amazing strangers.
Source: The Washington Post