New Jersey woman raises $325,000 for homeless Samaritan

 

(Reuters) - A homeless man who spent his last $20 on a New Jersey woman whose car ran out of gas has received more than $325,000 in charitable pledges after she started a fund-raising drive to reward him for his generosity.

 

Kate McClure, 27, launched a page on GoFundMe.com that had raised $325,420 for the man, Johnny Bobbitt Jr., as of Friday afternoon. The number was rising steadily throughout the day.

 

Bobbitt describes himself as a 34-year-old former U.S. Marine and paramedic who has been homeless for about a year, according to NJ.com, the website whose story on the encounter helped spark the fundraising interest.

 

McClure said on the GoFundMe website she was driving on Interstate 95 one night last month when she ran out of gas. She then met Bobbitt, who had been sitting on the side of the road with a panhandling sign.

 

He told her go back to her car and lock her doors, McClure said.

 

"A few minutes later, he comes back with a red gas can. Using his last 20 dollars to make sure I could get home safe," McClure said on GoFundMe.com.

 

Bobbitt told BBC Radio on Friday that he considered the side of the road an unsafe place for anyone, especially for a woman by herself.

 

"She just seemed like she needed help," Bobbitt said. "The situation I'm in, people help me every day. When I have the chance to help someone else, it's the right thing to do."

 

After the highway incident, McClure went back periodically to check on Bobbitt, bringing warm clothes and some cash. Eventually she and her husband decided to start a formal effort to raise money for rent, a car and other expenses until he can find a job.

 

The fund has grown by thousands of dollars in recent days as widespread media coverage combined with goodwill surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday appeared to have unleashed a groundswell.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-25

A heart felt thank you to this woman and her husband, from a former Marine.  

 

It's just a shame that the government spends millions of dollars to help refugees, while American veterans are destitute.  Take care of ALL Vets before spending a dime on foreigners.  

 

Edited November 25, 20178 yr by Just1Voice

5 hours ago, Just1Voice said:

A heart felt thank you to this woman and her husband, from a former Marine.  

 

It's just a shame that the government spends millions of dollars to help refugees, while American veterans are destitute.  Take care of ALL Vets before spending a dime on foreigners.  

 

It's not just the spending on foreigners that takes away funding for vets it's really some silly ass funding that is much worse. I won't even get into it because the snowflakes will be melting. 

I'm back in the states for a few weeks and have read a few stories about homeless vets. It's a very sad state that we are in when vets have to beg for money. Its just so wrong in so many ways.  I can understand why this woman's fund me page is popular this time of year but this guy will probably give away a lot of it to other vets which is cool. There should just be more of this going around. Sometimes I think there are a lot of " untold stories "  and other times I'm not really sure. 

Cancel a few F35's and spend to money on vets.

Plenty of extras/fat in the militaries budget.

Great to see the support for this guy. 

Stop sending endless numbers of young, healthy men into deadly situations in which they have a very high risk of becoming physically disabled or so seriously emotionally scarred that they are unable to function in a civil society.