CAN I EVER REPAY YOU!
100G fund-raise for a homeless hero
A homeless man used the last $20 in his pocket to buy gas for a stranded motorist because he feared for her safety — and what she did next changed his life.
Kate McClure, 27, and her boyfriend, Mark D’Amico, 38, made it their mission to get former Marine and firefighter Johnny Bobbit Jr. back on his feet with a fund-raising campaign that so far has raised more than $100,000.
Bobbit came to McClure’s aid last month, when she ran out of gas on I-95 at night while driving to meet a pal in Philadelphia. As she walked toward the nearest gas station, he told her to get back in her car and lock the doors. Bobbit then spent his last $20 to buy her gas so she could get safely home to Bordentown, NJ.
“He came back, and I was almost in shock,” McClure said.
Bobbit asked for nothing in return — but McClure and her boyfriend stopped by his spot several times in recent weeks, repaying him for the gas money and dropping off clothes.
“We went to Target and got him a big backpack filled with stuff, and he opened the granola bars and offered us one,” she said. “We are like, ‘We just got this for you.’ He’s extremely generous.”
Touched by his selflessness, they started the fund-raising campaign for Bobbit with a goal of $10,000 — enough to cover “first and last month’s rent at an apartment, a reliable vehicle, and four to six months worth of expenses.”
Bobbit is in “shock,” the couple said.
“We spoke to him yesterday, and it was around $17,000 [before it skyrocketed Wednesday],” D’Amico said. “He kept saying I don’t want to waste this chance.
“We went from a room for four to six months, and now we are looking at apartments for the year,” D’Amico said.
And to their amazement, the money keeps pouring in for the 34-year-old Bobbit, a Marine Corps vet from North Carolina who worked as a firefighter and paramedic before he fell on hard times.
The couple hopes Bobbit will join them for Thanksgiving at McClure’s mom’s home. “We are going to pick him up. Take him shopping,” D’Amico said.
Bobbit has been homeless for a year and half and began living under a bridge after he was robbed in a shelter.
“He came back from his service in the Marines and for some reason, it didn’t work out with his wife and it hit him hard,” D’Amico said.
“He left North Carolina and started traveling around the United States.”