You deserve good things
Kathie Mcalister had to walk 3 hours each way to keep her minimum wage job…until, one day, a kind stranger offered her a lift— and changed Kathie’s life forever!
Shawn Oliver was driving to the gym when she passed a woman in a Mcdonald’s uniform walking along the highway. The Jesup, Georgia, real estate agent normally didn’t stop for strangers, but that day, she felt oddly compelled to turn around. “Need a lift?” she asked.
“It’s a long way,” 45-year-old Kathie Mcalister sighed.
“I’ve got time,” Shawn smiled. “Where to?”
Kathie worked at the Mcdonald’s in the next county five days a week. “My boyfriend used to drive me, but he died and his family took the car,” she explained. And earning minimum wage, Kathie couldn’t afford to take public transportation.
That meant a 3-hour trek each way. She had to leave her small trailer before dawn to reach work on time, and after a long day on her feet, she hiked home in the dark, along the busy highway and through some sketchy neighborhoods.
Shawn’s heart went out to Kathie. “Let me pay for tomorrow morning’s ride,” she insisted.
That night, Shawn shared the story with her sister, April
Smith. “I can’t imagine having to walk so far.
She’s had a heart attack and a stroke, but her outlook’s so positive.”
“I can pick her up tomorrow evening,” April volunteered.
“I’ll take the morning after that,” offered April’s 20-yearold son, Hayden.
The trio teamed up to give Kathie rides to and from work. “Call us if you need to go anyplace else,” they offered.
Later, when the sisters learned Kathie washed her uniforms in the tub because she couldn’t get to the laundromat, April found a used washer on Facebook. “You don’t know what a blessing this is,” Kathie wept as Hayden and his brother, Bo, hooked it up.
Kathie couldn’t stop thanking her new friends for their generosity. And there was an even bigger gesture to come.
One day, Kathie’s manager led her outside the restaurant to the back parking lot.
Kathie had no idea what was going on. She didn’t notice her fellow employees had followed her outside. But then she spotted Shawn at the far end of the lot standing with April,
Hayden and Bo, alongside a tan 2007 Chrysler Sebring topped with a giant bow.
“I bought this from somebody today,” Shawn smiled.
“You won’t have to walk to work anymore,” April chimed in, and when Kathie realized what they were saying, she burst into happy tears.
“You guys are truly a blessing to me!” she sobbed, hugging everyone in sight.
Shawn’s church had even prepaid several months of car insurance.
With reliable transportation, Kathie soon found a new, better-paying job. “They changed my life,” she says. “I’m already looking for ways to pay my blessings forward.”
“The true blessing is having the chance to give,” says April.
Shawn agrees. “It’s even sweeter when a helping hand turns into a helping hand up. The greatest thing we can do is love one another.”