It doesn’t take a lot to go from having a roof over your head to being out on the streets. All it might take is one bad choice or simply a cruel twist of fate.
1. Amber: I Had to Starve Myself for a Whole Week to Buy a Cellphone
My name’s Amber. Until recently, I was living what I thought was the dream life with my husband Louis and our son Allen. We seemed so happy. Then, suddenly, everything changed.
“We rushed into things, Amber. I can’t do this anymore!” Louis announced one evening. My heart just sank.
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“Louis, you’re kidding, right? You can’t just leave us like that! What about Allen? He’s only two!” I pleaded.
“That’s the problem, Amber!” he retorted. “I’m tired of all the responsibilities. I need time for myself. I’ve found someone who gets what I’m going through!”
That night, as he walked out, I just fell apart. Once Louis was gone, reality hit me hard. I struggled to find a job while taking care of Allen alone.
Two weeks later, our landlady evicted us as I couldn’t pay the rent, and Social Services took Allen.
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That night, I was homeless and heartbroken. My baby, my child, was taken away from me.
I sold everything I had, including my phone, and that kept me going for a while. Then, the money ran out.
One evening, out in the cold, I remembered my dad’s warnings about Louis. “He’s not right for you,” Dad had said. I wish I’d listened. Desperate to reconnect with him, I decided to buy a phone to call him.
I knew that if I borrowed a phone to call him, maybe he wouldn’t pick up the first time or even the second. But I’d have to keep trying….
I starved myself for a week to save enough to buy a second-hand phone. My tears didn’t stop when I dialed Dad’s number.
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“Hello?” he asked.
“It’s… Amber, Dad,” I sobbed into the phone.
“Amber, sweetheart! Is that you? Oh God! How are things going?”
“I need your help, dad!”
“Is-Is everything okay?”
“Just come as soon as possible, Dad!” I said.
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He arrived quickly. In a hotel room, I poured out my heart about the betrayal and my days on the streets. Dad comforted me.
The next day, Dad and I went to the orphanage to start the paperwork to bring Allen home. Once everything was finalized, Dad took Allen and me to New York.
He also hired a private detective to find out where Louis was. It turned out Louis had been cheating on me with his boss’s daughter.
When his boss found out the truth — that Louis was married and had abandoned his family — he fired him. Louis ended up living on the streets. It felt like justice was done.
Back home, with my dad and Allen, I felt stronger. Life had knocked me down but taught me resilience. And with Dad’s support, I knew we could face anything ahead.
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Coming up next is Brandon’s story, a homeless man and father of 3 living in a tent. One day, he decided to help a stranger, ignoring his own needs, and his life was never the same again.
2. Brandon: I Gave My Last $2 to a Stranger at a Gas Station, the Next Day I Inherited His Company
Four months on the streets with my three kids taught me a lot about life’s harshness and the small acts of kindness that can keep hope alive.
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We lived in a tent near a gas station, a makeshift home barely shielding us from the cold. It was tough, but we managed to find moments of joy, making the best of it.
One chilly morning, as I counted the few coins I had left, I decided to head into the gas station to buy a can of beans — our planned dinner for the evening.
Inside, I stumbled upon a scene that jolted my heart. An elderly man stood at the counter, confusion written all over his face.
“I’m sorry, young lady, what did you say about the water being funny?” he asked.
“I said you don’t have enough money, sir!” the cashier snapped.
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“Yes, it is a sunny day!” he replied.
Suddenly, some young man in line grabbed the elderly man, yelling, “You need more cash!”
Watching this, my heart sank. The elderly man just wanted a bottle of water to take his pills, but his request for an affordable bottle was met with hostility. “If you can’t afford to pay, you’ll have to go!” the cashier shouted.
I couldn’t stand idly by. Stepping forward, I emptied my cup of change onto the counter. “Have a heart, lady,” I said, deciding to pay for the man’s water.
The cashier counted the money with distaste. “That’ll cover it,” she muttered. I left the can of beans and handed the water to the elderly man.
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“Here you go, sir,” I spoke clearly, making sure he could read my lips.
“Why did you help me when you needed the money?” he asked me as we left the store, noticing my tent with kids nearby.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being homeless, it’s that the world works when people are kind to each other,” I explained.
“But what are your kids going to eat?” he questioned.
“There’s a chance I’ll find some scraps at the fast food joint across the street,” I assured him.
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The next morning, two jeeps parked near our tent, and a man in a fancy suit stepped out.
“Mr. Grives’ last wish was for me to deliver this to you,” he said. There was a letter offering me the inheritance of his business.
“Is it a joke?” I asked in shock.
The man handed me legal documents. With a mix of apprehension and hope, I signed the papers. This could be the break my children and I needed, a chance to escape the streets.
We were driven to a huge mansion. “Can we put up a tent under that tree with pink flowers?” my youngest, Derrick, asked innocently.
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“We’re going to live inside that house, silly! Right, Dad?” my daughter Kelly chimed in.
As I nodded, the reality of our new life began to sink in. Yet, the moment I opened the doors, something was wrong. The house was in disarray — someone had been there.
“We’ve examined the entire perimeter of the house and found no sign of forced entry, sir,” the officer reported after I called 911.
That evening, I got an anonymous call. In a robotic yet menacing tone, the voice told me I had 24 hours to decline all that Mr. Grives’ left me, leave the house, or else I would lose everything I love.
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The mansion came with Mr. Grives’ loyal staff, and one of them warned me that this could be the doing of Mr. Grives’ eldest son, Christopher. I resolved to go to the cops in the morning.
But in the morning, my kids were vanished! Although the clever perpetrator had managed to hide his face from most of the CCTVs in and around the house, there was one he didn’t know about.
Mr. Grives’ staff watched in horror as they recognized the leader of three thugs drugging my children. It was Christopher.
From there on, the cops put everyone on the task of tracking Christopher, and didn’t rest until later that afternoon, when Christopher were spotted on the border of the state with my kids in the back of an old van.
Christopher was arrested, and my children were safe. But their fear had set in deep, and I had a choice to make: to heal and embrace the gift that kind soul left us, or to walk away, rebuilding from the start.
“Daddy, are we going to leave our home again?” Kelly’s question broke my heart.
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I wrapped my arms around them. “We’re going to be okay. You want to know why?”
“IBecause the most valuable thing we have is right here, in my arms. So long as we stick together, we’ll always be rich in the most important way: love.”
While Brandon was blessed with children who understand the value of kindness and love, Mr. Greg wasn’t. Coming up next is his story.
3. Mr. Greg: My Teen Daughter Humiliated the Homeless, I Had to Teach Her a Lesson
I always thought I was doing right things for my daughter, Jane. I made sure she had everything she needed, but I missed teaching her something crucial — compassion for others. This hit me hard a few days ago when I lost my wallet.
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After a fruitless search, I returned home to find Jane mocking a homeless man and his daughter at our doorstep. The shock set in when the man handed me my wallet, untouched. I was moved by that man’s gesture.
But Jane dismissively called them “trash,” and spoke to them with so much disgust…it broke my heart. I knew I had to fix this.
That evening, I invited the man, Mark, and his daughter for dinner. It was my chance to teach Jane about generosity.
“Dad, check the money! He probably stole it!” Jane said as I checked my wallet. Everything was there.
“All the money is here, sweetie. You’re mistaken,” I told her.
Seeing Mark’s and Lolita’s discomfort, I invited them to stay for dinner.
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“Why don’t you guys join us?” I said. “It’s the least I can do to thank you.”
During dinner, Jane gave them paper plates instead of proper dishes.
“Why not use the nice dishes I got you for your birthday?” I suggested.
As we ate, I encouraged Mark to share his story, but Jane kept interrupting with rude comments. Eventually, I lost my patience.
“Shut your mouth, Jane!” I snapped. “You don’t know nothing. Misfortune could strike anyone.”
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I then revealed a painful truth to Jane. “It’s my fault. I worked too much, especially after your mother passed. We were the same once,” I confessed. “Do you remember our ‘camping trips’? We were actually homeless.”
Jane was stunned. “How did we get back on our feet?”
“A kind man gave me a job. That changed our lives,” I said with a sigh.
Then, I looked at Mark. “And now, it’s my turn to pay it forward,” I told him.
Mark nodded. “All I did was what a decent human should do,” he said.
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“I had no idea, Dad. I’m sorry,” Jane said after a pause.
“It’s okay, honey. It’s not too late to learn from this,” I told her.
When it was time for Mark and Lolita to go, I suggested, “Why don’t you both stay the night? We have plenty of room, and it’s getting late.”
Mark hesitated, then gratefully accepted. “Thank you, Greg. This means a lot.”
But I knew I wasn’t done helping them. Offering them a night’s shelter would not alleviate their problems. So I made a decision.
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A little kindness costs nothing, guys, and I was ready to make sure that little Lolita and her dad had a good life.
The next day, I offered Mark a job as a driver and arranged a temporary home for them. “And I’ll help you until you’re back on your feet,” I promised.
“Oh, Really?” Mark gasped. “Nobody is this kind nowadays! I won’t let you down, sir,” Mark told me in tears. “Thank you so much!”
The smile on Lolita’s face that day made me realize I’d done the right thing. As for Jane…my Janie changed. She became a better person, and I’m so glad for that.
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If you enjoyed reading these, you might also enjoy these three heart-stopping stories where ‘dead’ people turned out to be alive, shocking their loved ones.
We’re curious: What do you think about these stories? Tell us in the comments!
Note: These pieces are inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only.
An Elderly Woman Is Turned Away from Business Class until a Little Boy’s Photo Slips Out of Her Purse
A poor old woman decided to fly business class to get closer to her son. However, she faced rejection from passengers on board until they discovered her true identity.
Rhea felt self-conscious. The old woman had gotten on the first plane to leave the airport that morning, and she sat in a seat in business class where the well-to-do folks stayed.
As she entered the cabin, nobody spared her a glance, but when she located her seat and sat, eyes turned towards her. The reason was simple; she stood out like a sore thumb.
Where the other men and women present all wore fancy and expensive-looking clothes, Rhea wore her old, broken-in clothes — it was her best, but it looked drab compared to what the others were wearing.
The man next to her had his face completely buried in a newspaper when she sat down, so he did not quickly notice her. When he put down the issue, he looked to his side and winced at her appearance, then he signaled a flight attendant.
“What is this?” he asked, pointing to Rhea.
The flight attendant looked a bit mortified at the man’s tone, but after verifying the woman’s seat number, she faced the man and replied, “This passenger took a seat according to the ticket she paid for.”
The man looked like he would vomit at any minute because of Rhea’s presence, and before he even proceeded to talk, he unfolded a pristine handkerchief and used it to cover his nose. Then he said, “I don’t know what’s on her ticket, but I bought a seat in business class to get away from people like her, now it just feels like I’m in a cheap alley with homeless people.”
The altercation had gotten the attention of many in the cabin, and some seemed to be in support of the man. One plump woman bedecked from her head to her feet in jewelry piped up.
“If I wanted to fly with such riff-raff, I would buy an economy class ticket,” she said, and a murmur of agreement moved through the passengers.
The murmur quickly took on a life of its own and soon led to a squabble the attendant tried to quell, but the rich folks would not hear of it — the woman had to go.
“Can’t you see she doesn’t belong here?” one man said.
“Is this how low this airline has fallen? How can such a person afford the bill?” another asked.
“We want her gone and we want a formal apology for allowing us to come into contact with such filth,” the man beside Rhea said.
He and a few other passengers were on their feet and refused to sit until they got what they wanted. Rhea sat there, listening to them arguing and trampling all over her dignity.
“I’m okay, this too shall pass,” she kept repeating under her breath like a mantra.
Still, she heard how they spoke of her, and it hurt her very deeply that people could be so cruel. Before she knew it, sad tears cascaded down her slightly wrinkled cheeks.
“Perhaps I’ll just leave,” Rhea thought, then started to gather her things with shaky hands.
As she stood up to go, she stumbled, and rather than catch her as instinct should have made him, the man beside her flinched away as if to avoid getting splattered with mud.
Rhea fell to her knees and inadvertently spilled the contents of her purse. She started to collect her things with trembling hands, knowing she was the focus of everyone in the cabin.
An expensively dressed old lady who had been sleeping peacefully until the ruckus woke her got up from her seat and also went down on her knees to help Rhea.
At that, the cabin went silent, and the passengers stared dumbfounded as one of them treated Rhea like a human. The first thing the woman picked up was a passport photograph of a little boy.
“Thank you very much,” Rhea whispered as she collected it from her.
“This is my son,” she said with a teary smile, still on her knees. “He is the pilot of this plane.”
“He must have grown up to become a handsome young man,” the rich old woman said.
“How could I know? I had to give him up for adoption when he was just five because I had no means to take care of him.” As she spoke, tears fell from her eyes, and the cabin remained silent.
“I’ve been looking for him for years but I’ve not been able to find him. Recently, I found out he became a pilot so I started to go from airport to airport looking for him. Today I found him but the only way I could get close to him was by boarding this flight.”
Rhea looked up at the people around, most of whom averted their eyes shamefully, then she continued.
“I’m sorry for making you all feel uncomfortable but I just wanted to be as close to my son as possible which is why I saved up my money to get this chance. The business class is closer to him and I’ve never flown before so I thought it would make a great birthday gift for myself.”
The passengers listened to her story, and by the time she stopped talking, many were crying. Rhea got up eventually and went with the flight attendants, who were hell-bent on introducing her to her son.
“What if he doesn’t want to see me?” she asked, resisting their urging. “What if he hates me for abandoning him?” Before the flight attendant could speak, the man who had been against her sitting beside him beat her to it.
“You had no choice, I believe he will understand that,” he said before quickly diving behind his newspaper again. He was also ashamed. Rhea left with the flight attendant to finally meet her son.
After some time, a man’s voice was heard on the plane. “This is the captain speaking… there is a special person flying on this plane — my mom, and it’s her birthday today.”
Everyone applauded the old lady, and those who had ridiculed her before apologized for their mistake. When the plane landed, the pilot, whose name was Joseph, met up with his mother, and finally, after many years of estrangement, Rhea held her son again.
What did we learn from this story?
Choose to be kind. When the man beside Rhea started to clamor for her to leave the cabin, others joined in, and even though the woman had done nothing, they may have succeeded in making her leave. The only person who did not do what they did was another old woman. She stood up for Rhea even though she could easily have just joined the haughty passengers, and her decision changed everything.
Never give up. Rhea looked for her son for years but could not locate him; however, that did not stop her. She kept looking, and she was ready to do anything to meet him, including saving up her hard-earned money for an expensive business class flight. Her perseverance and sacrifices were rewarded in the end, and she was able to meet him.
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