People are often described as being so generous, they’d “give you the shirt off their back,” but it’s rare to see that level of compassion occur before your very eyes.
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Tom Agnes is the store operations manager at Brooklyn Center Liquor in Minnesota. While he was out to lunch one day, one of his employees spotted a man rummaging through the free cardboard boxes at the front of the store. When she saw him selecting two boxes to uses as shoes for his socks-clad feet, she took immediate and decisive action.
When Tom returned to the store, he found his star employee, Ta Leia Thomas, who goes by Ace, working the cash register in her socks. He asked what happened, and she told him she saw a man with no shoes, so she gave him her own sneakers.
Tom checked the store’s security footage and, sure enough, there was Ace pulling off her purple retro Jordans and handing them over to the stranger without even a second of hesitation.
Ace says her reaction was automatic; she saw that he needed shoes, so she gave him hers. Not only that, but the shoes she gave him were her favorite pair, and can’t be easily replaced. Still, the decision was simple for her.
“He said nobody would ever give me shoes like that,” Ace recalled of her conversation with the stranger. “And I said, well, I’m not everybody.”
You can say that again.
Ace later explained that she was raised to help others, because “you never know what their problem is or what they are going through.”
Even though the shoes were special to her, she realized instantly that they can be always replaced.
“If my shoes can make somebody’s world a better place, you can have them,” she said, adding, “Everybody in the world deserves to be loved.”
Later that day, Tom bought Ace a new pair of shoes so she didn’t have to work in her socks. He shared the video of her giving away her Jordans on social media, and the story went viral! People everywhere were quick to praise Ace for her kindness, and they raised $450 to replace her shoes.
Then, Tom heard about Ace’s mom, someone she says is “all I have in this world.” Ace helps care for her and, since they only have one bed, she lets her mom take it while she rests on the floor. That’s when Tom realized the best way to repay this generous employee.
“And I’m like, ah, we don’t need to get Ace a pair of shoes we need to get Ace a bed,” Tom recalled. “So, I gave her cash instead of the shoes to get mom a bed.”
It goes to show that, sometimes, what goes around truly does come back around!
Share this story to thank Ace for being so selfless.
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