(Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)
A Georgia woman, at her breaking point “emotionally, physically and financially,” found herself with a bit more groceries than her $250 gift card allowed for when a stranger in the checkout line came to her rescue, offering to pay her bill of $375.
The stranger, according to the cashier who witnessed the act of kindness, was none other than Ludacris.
According to Page Six, Therra Gwyn-Jaramillo of Atlanta had been struggling since her husband died of brain cancer in 2014. More recently, however, she “ran into a financial hit of almost $4,000 within one month when I had to get a new water heater ($2,000) and I didn’t get a freelance writing check I was owed,” Gwyn-Jaramillo wrote in a now viral Facebook post.
“My budget simply will not hold under that huge a hit,” she added.
With little money and responsible for a variety of rescue animals and her disabled brother, Gwyn-Jaramillo was “too embarrassed to say out loud I was having financial difficulty, but it was a solid problem. I was making rice for me and the dogs to eat. I was losing sleep. I was crying daily. I rationed gas in my car,” she wrote.
“It was breaking me in pieces,” she continued.
A friend of the woman stepped in to help, providing Gwyn-Jaramillo with a $250 gift card to Whole Foods.
With the gift card in hand, Gwyn-Jaramillo headed to the grocery store on Monday “with a dream of hummus and fresh food. Real dog food for the pups. Maybe a pizza with roasted exotic toppings,” she wrote.
While in the checkout line, Gwyn-Jaramillo realized that she had miscalculated and would not have enough to buy all of her items. That’s when Ludacris, unrecognized by Gwyn-Jaramillo, took care of the bill.
At this point, Gwyn-Jaramillo said she began to cry. When she asked for the man’s name, he simply replied, “Chris.”
Gwyn-Jaramillo wrote on Facebook that they shook hands and hugged before making small talk.
“I talked to him through my tears and finally asked, ‘Who ARE you?’” said Gwyn-Jaramillo. “He looked at me and said ‘Just a person. Just a guy.’ I kept thinking, ‘Does he know? Does he know he’s an angel?’”
Gwyn-Jaramillo said while he looked familiar (and that she is a fan of the Grammy-winning rapper) she didn’t place him until a cashier filled her in – after Ludacris left.
“WHAT I screamed,” Gwyn-Jaramillo told CBS News. “People were smiling and laughing (and probably rolling their eyes that I just now ‘got it’ about who he was).”
She says she was inspired to write, a now viral, Facebook post about her encounter.
“He was just doing something kind for a disheveled, harried stranger. Showing the love in his soul. Shining a light in the world,” she wrote, adding that Luda “had no way of knowing” of her personal hardships.
“What Ludacris had no way of knowing is that his quiet kindness and generous gesture came at a moment when my candle was out,” she continued. “He used his personal light to fire up my own.”
“This event taught me something I thought I already knew. It taught me the true power of being kind to strangers. He’s probably done this hundreds of time. But I couldn’t forget it,” Gwyn-Jaramillo said.
The Georgia-based writer explained that the encounter has had lasting effects on her, and hopes the story will encourage others to be kind,”The gift he gave me, the lesson, will long last after the groceries are gone.”
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