At the age of 14, one young boy was fed up with waiting for life to take him where it would. A bus ticket and no money were all he had to go to the “wealthy” part of town. A new experience for him was about to begin, but it was a necessary one.

That day, Chauncey Black made an extraordinary request of a stranger at the Highland Kroger.

Chauncy Black, a 16-year-old high school student, was dealt a hand that most of us can only comprehend as he was living with his mother but had lack of food and was hungry. And so, he went to his only option: the Kroger supermarket in a well-heeled neighborhood, where there was plenty of food.

It wasn’t easy for Chauncy to come up with the money for the bus fare, but he was able to save up enough for a one-way ticket. He was willing to do some labor in return for a bite to eat. A chance meeting with a stranger, though, would impact his life in ways he could never have imagined.

To get a free box of doughnuts, Chauncy made his way to the front of the Kroger grocery store and approached an unknown customer. When Matt White heard the young man’s plea, he was affected.

“I thought, this youngster had been rejected a hundred times. He looked ashamed, starving, and destitute, so, a “yes!” shouted from the depths of my being, but all I could muster was, “Yeah dude, we’ll get you some doughnuts.”

Matt learned quickly that Chauncy’s mother was malnourished and he had no phone. Before Chauncy’s bus came in less than an hour, he had to depend on the goodwill of a stranger to feed him.

Matt had no intention of just handing the teenager a box of doughnuts and calling it a day. The child was clearly in need of help. For Chauncy’s mother at home, the Good Samaritan continued to load the cart full of gifts.

“Wow, this child was amazing.’ As long as Chauncy kept referring to himself as “poor,” I had faith in his promise that he would become rich and be free to help others in his community by purchasing food for them, as I had done for him. ”

Despite Chauncy’s terrible upbringing, he had lofty ambitions for the future and a burning desire to help others in need.

“So he wouldn’t have to take the bus home, I offered him a ride. When we got to his house, I was humbled. It wasn’t possible to sleep in the room since it was devoid of any furnishings. They had two lamps and nothing in their refrigerator, so they slept on sleeping bag pads.

As Matt and Chauncy unloaded the food, Matt could feel Chauncy’s hope returning. There was a distinct lack of maturity in his demeanor.

“Then I hugged him goodbye and told him that he was going to be an amazing man. My memories of that embrace will last a lifetime. It was more important to me than everything else I owned.”

In spite of the “goodbye,” there was much more to come in this wonderful story. Matt started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the family’s necessities.

The $341K contributed to assist this family’s basic needs didn’t simply go to Chauncy.

Having the money to start his own lawn-mowing business was another benefit Chauncy received.

Also, for the first time, he would be able to sleep in a real bed.