MEMPHIS, Tenn. — What he asked for was humble: just a pack of doughnuts, and in exchange he would carry the man’s groceries to his car for him.
But Chauncy Jones Black got much more than just doughnuts.
Matt White wrote in a Facebook post that when he took the 16-year-old up on his offer, it looked like “he had been turned down 100 times.”
Chauncy told White he lived with his grandmother, and they had nothing. So White went back into the store with him and bought a load of food and necessities.
While they were shopping, Chauncy explained how he makes straight A’s and is trying to get a job to help his mom pay rent. He dreams of owning his own business so he can help others in his community — just like White was helping him then.
White drove Chauncy back to his house with the groceries and saw how they really did live with almost nothing — not even beds or furniture, and there was no food in their fridge. White explained how the grandmother was “so sweet but very fragile” and has a condition that makes it hard for her to walk.
Chauncy “looked like a kid again” as they unloaded the food, and White wrote how he saw hope appear in his eyes now that he wouldn’t go hungry.
White decided to make that hope grow even bigger by starting a GoFundMe page to help give Chauncy a chance at success by getting basic needs for him and his mother and the tools Chauncy needs to work.
“What so many can take for granted, he wants. He wants food, he wants a bed, he wants to work and he wants a chance,” White wrote on the GoFundMe page.
People from all over have helped White raise almost $225,000 in 11 days. The support hasn’t just been donations; some community members are offering him jobs so he can work for his money, and others are helping White find him and his mom housing in a safer neighborhood.
“I am blown away how God has used the power of their story to provide so much already for them,” White wrote. “I pray that he will continue to do so and that we will have all the funds and resources we need to secure Chauncy and his mom for the rest of their lives.”