Seeing firsthand the kindness of strangers is a powerful experience.
A determined and dedicated schoolteacher from Chicago was reminded of this earlier this month aboard a Southwest Airlines flight to Florida. After opening up about her profession, first-grade teacher Kimber Bermudez received $530 from three total strangers to help students in need.
27-year-old Bermudez took to social media to document the amazing event, publishing a Facebook post that has since been shared more than 26,000 times. “I write this in awe of my day yesterday,” she began, going on to describe how her neighbor on the flight asked about the biggest challenge in her job. She detailed the heartbreak of working at a low income school, where many children and families struggle with poverty, hunger and unsafe living conditions.
“We talked about the world and how no child should ever do without. In 2018, kids should never be hungry or in need of anything,” she wrote, also mentioning that the man asked for her contact details as “his company likes to donate items, time, etc for schools such as mine.”
Kimber was already emotional following his caring conversation and offer to help, but she was shocked when a man sitting behind her joined in. She said he apologized for listening in on her conversation and then “handed me a wad of cash.”
“He told me to ‘do something amazing’ and sat back down,” she added. “I realized that there was $100 on top, and started to cry. I thanked him and told him how I would buy my students books and give back to the community. I didn’t count the money from that man, but I would later find out that he gave me $500.”
Two more strangers ended up giving Bermudez money, and by the time she stepped off the plane and into the airport, she had collected $530 to help her students and their families. In her post, which included a photograph of the bills she collected, she said “I was not telling my story to solicit money, and never intended to walk out of that flight with anything other than my carry on. My heart is in complete shock and awe right now. When the world seems crazy there are always good people. I would do anything for my students, and want to thank these strangers…They deserve to be recognized.”
Check out her full post HERE for some lovely inspiration and a reminder of the good things in this world.