He gave his last $40 to woman stranded in the rain. Years later, he accidentally met her — without realizing who she was
A small act of kindness came full circle in a way no one could have predicted.
What began as a small gesture on a rainy Georgia afternoon turned into an extraordinary reunion three years later. In 2014, Chris Wright was driving to church with his family when he noticed a woman walking alone on the side of the road, as per CBS News. Her car had run out of gas, and she was carrying an empty can, drenched and exhausted. He didn’t know her name then, but she would later become part of his family’s life in a way no one could have imagined.
The woman’s name was TunDe Hector, and she told him she had only five dollars in her pocket. Wright drove her to a nearby gas station, filled her can, and handed her the $40 he had in his wallet. "I was being tugged on the inside again and felt the Lord say, 'Whatever you have in your pocket, just give it to her. She needs that,'" Wright told ABC News. "I gave her the $40, and she cried. I didn’t know if I’d ever see her again."
Three years later, in 2017, Wright’s mother, Judy, was in the final stages of Parkinson’s disease. The family had brought in nursing aides to help care for her at home, and one aide stood out for her kindness and compassion. Wright’s father called him after her first visit, saying, "There’s something different about her. Your mom loves her, and I feel calmer when she’s around." When Wright met the aide for the first time, he didn’t recognize her — her hair was different, and she wore a hat. During their conversation, she mentioned a story about a man who had once stopped to help her when her car ran out of gas in the rain.
Wright’s eyes welled with tears. "I just looked at her and said, 'TunDe, that was me,' and we both just started crying," he recalled. From that moment, the Wrights and Hector formed a bond that went beyond caregiver and family. Judy felt deeply connected to her. "She cared for her in the most respectful way. She had the utmost respect for human life," Carmen told CBS. The day Judy passed away, it was also Hector's birthday, but she left her own celebration and went straight to the Wrights’ home when she heard the news.
Even after Judy’s passing, Hector continued visiting Judy’s husband, Phil, often stopping by to check in. Her kindness left such a mark on the family that when they later learned she was struggling to pay for nursing school, they decided to help her the same way she had helped them. They set a modest goal of $1,000, but within 45 minutes, they had already passed it. By the end of the week, the total had reached nearly $20,000.
When the family shared the news with Hector, she broke down in tears. "Lord, have mercy! Lord, you’re so good to me," she said as Chris told her what they’d done. "Y’all don’t know how worried I was about how I’m going to pay for my school. I’m overwhelmed!" Carmen shared a video of Hector’s reaction on Facebook, which went viral. The duo was even invited to The Ellen Show, where Hector got an additional $10,000 check. "We know that God orchestrated this whole thing and wove it together," Chris said. "It’s helped my wife and me — it’s almost like the Lord used all this to take some of the sting out of losing my mom."
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