At the Restaurant: Part II

I have another friend who is a bus boy at the same restaurant.  I have worked with him for a number of years.  Throughout the years, he constantly struggles with finances because he has a 30-year old epileptic daughter who lives with him and his wife.  While his wife stays home with the daughter during the day to watch over her if she has a seizure, he works two jobs to support his family.  He and his wife are older and it is hard for him to keep up with the demands of working as a bar back in our bar.  Along with working two jobs, he stays up all night watching over his daughter while his wife sleeps.  He rarely gets any sleep at all.  The strangest thing happened before I received the money from Paradigm – he asked someone at our restaurant if he could borrow $150 since the restaurant has been slow.  Along with the $150 that he borrowed, we did a collection for him for additional funds to help his family.  During this time, I know that I will be able to give him another $100 to help him pay the other employee back or keep if he still needs more money.

I left the money in an envelope with the pay-it-forward flyer and put it in the same for another manager to give to him.  I was hoping that it would remain anonymous.  Unfortunately, they told him that it was from me and my husband.  He came to me last night with tears in his eyes thanking me for the money.  I told him that it was from my other employer who has begun a pay-it-forward initiative.  He is from Thailand so I am unsure as to whether he can read the flyer, but I explained the concept to him.  I could tell that he has never heard this concept before, but he assured me that he would find someone in his community to help who is in need.  I am sure he will.