A genuine act of kindness is one where you do a good deed and expect nothing in return. But since life is full of surprises, fate sometimes has its own way of rewarding you through means that you never expected. This is exactly what happened to a homeless man in Kansas, who helped a stranger in need and received something that brought a little joy in his life.
It was during a day of heavy snowing in Kansas when a homeless man, named Dave, chanced upon a driver whose car was stuck in the snow. The driver tried all he could to get his car out of the trap he was in, but he failed. Cochran owned a ’95 Suburban, and knowing that it was bigger more powerful than the stranger’s car, he decided to help him. Dave offered to tow the man’s car uphill.
Dave was extra careful as the stranger was driving a brand new BMW, while he just owned an old truck. He was afraid of damaging the car by accident as he didn’t have much – he sometimes relied on food stamps to eat and struggled to get by on a daily basis. He tried working odd jobs in Kansas, yet, he still didn’t have a lot to live on.
They successfully got the car out of the snow and before they parted, the stranger thanked Dave for all his help. The homeless man didn’t have any idea about the identity of the man who he just helped – he didn’t even care. He was just intent on helping someone who was in need.
But the man he helped out of the snow didn’t forget about his kind deed. He was Jeff Allen, NFL player for the Kansas City Chiefs. He wanted to repay the man who helped him, but the only things he knew about him was that he owned an old truck and his first name was Dave.
So he did what any person in this information age would do – he sought the help of Twitter. Hoping that his fans would help him, he tweeted that he wanted to give the nice guy who helped him tickets to the AFC championship, but he didn’t know how to reach him.
The post went viral and it eventually reached Dave. He never had a Twitter account before, but he created one so he would be able to respond to Jeff. Dave uploaded a video directed to the NFL player, telling him that he was the guy who helped him and that he hopes they meet again under better circumstances. Jeff saw the video and sent him three tickets to a game in Arrowhead Stadium.
“He gave me three free tickets to the championship games [on] Sunday. And I mean, God bless him, I’ve never been to a football game ever in my life.”, said Dave.
But the good karma didn’t end there. The people of Kansas City have been reaching out to Dave Cochran to send him help, including a local repair shop called the KC Glass Guys.
“If anyone knows how we can reach Dave … we would love to replace his glass. We have two at our shop we would install for free to help keep him warm,” the shop wrote on their Facebook page.
The KC Glass Guys did more than what they promised and replaced not two, but three missing windows from Dave’s truck all for free. Dave lived in the truck with his fiancé and their dog, according to reports by KCTV.
Dave’s story is proof that even if you don’t expect it, life has its way of paying it forward when you spread kindness to the world.
Watch the video below from CBS News about Dave’s story.