Man Eats Lunch Every Day With A Homeless Woman Before She Confesses The Truth

Most of us have experienced being approached by a homeless individual and being asked for money. Some of us may give them what we can and others get asked so frequently that they become callous to it. Greg Smith is a 25-year-old personal trainer and a sales manager who lives in Orlando. He also runs into homeless people on a regular basis and many of them asking for money. He is well-dressed and healthy in appearance, so they may look at him as being an easy mark. That wasn’t the case, however, with Amy Jo.

Rather than simply brushing off the opportunity to get to know Amy Jo, he took the time to know the homeless woman. He also taught her how to read, which is perhaps one of the greatest gifts that you could ever give to somebody. One he had this touching experience, he went to Facebook and decided to share the experience with the world: “I’ve got a number of people working on trying to find her a place where she can stay for the rest of her life,” he added. “Hopefully a place where she can live and work.”

As unlikely as it may seem, Amy and Greg are now friends. When Greg was on his way to work he would pass by Amy and she wouldn’t ask for money, she just sent a greeting his way. Eventually they sat together and chatted and he learned that she had had a rough deal in life. Eventually, they started eating lunch together every day.

Greg talked about how he met Amy Jo and the changes she made in his life:

“For the last few weeks each Tuesday, Amy Joe and I meet at the corner of Pine Street and S. Orange Ave in downtown Orlando,”

He wrote more on Facebook:

“Each day for about a week I saw Amy Joe at this corner, and she never asked for money… she simply said ‘Good morning Sir, have a great day. God Bless!!’ and smiled. I wear a suit to work every day, so I get asked for a lot of money quite often downtown… but never once from Amy Jo.

Every Tuesday, Amy Joe and I now have lunch together. For 30 min to an hour I get to hear how positive she is even though she really has nothing.”

‘“Last week Amy Joe kind of dropped a bomb on me…she cannot read.”

“Amy Joe does not smoke, drink, have a drug addiction, or anything to that nature. She simply just has never had anyone teach her how to read. She told me how hard it was for her to find work not being able to read. She began to tell me any money that she can collect she uses to check out library books that help with learning to read instead of buying FOOD.
This crushed me!!! She would rather learn to read to maybe find a job than eat!!!”

“I have been blessed with two amazing parents and a family that has always had resources to provide me with anything I wanted to do. Amy Joe has not. So now not only do Amy Joe and I sit and have lunch, I’m teaching her to read. I rent one library book a week, and we read it together Tuesday, and she practices on her own throughout the rest of the week.

This post is in no way to make anyone feel sorry for Amy Joe or brag about me doing something for someone less fortunate. I wanted to share this because maybe this can lead to someone helping another person.”

“There are a lot of people out there like Amy Joe, not all are hungry, homeless, or hurt. Some could be your family or friends. Helping someone could be as easy as saying hello and smiling. I have been fortunate enough in my finances that I can take care of Amy Joe, so that’s what I’m going to do.”

Greg had a surprise for Amy Joe one day. He said: “We’re gonna take a little walk’ since the hotel was three or four blocks away from the restaurant we were at.” When she knew what was going on, she started to cry.

Greg has stopped by each day with donations of groceries, clothes and money. Amy Joe is excited and he said she has taken three showers.

She said: “I’m so happy that we met’ and hugged me and said, ‘I love you.”

Greg checks in on her regularly and he wants to establish a foundation in her name for other homeless individuals.