To many, owning a car is a means to a more convenient life. It means being able to go from point A to point B any time of the day and on your own timeframe. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for all.
To some of the people in Charlotte, and probably in other cities, their cars are more than their transportation. It is their home. This is what pushed a car dealer in North Carolina to start his act of kindness – offering his parking lot to the homeless.
James Charles, the manager of Kiplin Automotive Group, has been selling cars and recently decided to open the parking lot of his business to people who have been living out of their vehicles. He’s been encouraging homeless people with cars to use the parking lot so that they have a safe place to sleep at night.
This act of kindness by Charles began in January when his team was in the process of repossessing one woman’s car.
“The gentleman who was repossessing the car said ‘We can’t take the car, there’s somebody living in the car,” Charles told WBTV.
Charles then tried looking around for a place for the woman to stay. Unfortunately, every shelter in Charlotte was already full. What he did in the meantime was to book her in a hotel for a few nights while looking for a permanent solution.
According to Good News Network, this was the time that Charles and his team realized that something has to be done because there might be other people out there suffering from the same dilemma.
“That was the sign we took at that time and we realized, ‘You know what? This is something we need to be more involved in.’”
So he put a new initiative into place. Charles started through a post on Facebook where he encouraged the members of the community to spread the word about his plans of opening the parking lot for homeless people.
“We would like to designate a safe place for those going through this tough time. We can’t put everyone in a hotel, but we can get you a safe place for the night,” wrote Charles. “We will provide a safe place to park at night. As this service to the community develops, we will look to help these families in other ways, but right now, a safe place is what we can offer.”
More and more people started sharing his Facebook post. People then started donating food, scarves, toiletries, hats and more. Soon after, about 20 people came and took up Charles’ offer to use his parking lot to stay the night.
Because Charles has seen an opportunity to help more people, he was inspired to start a nonprofit organization called HALO Now. HALO Now has the goal of raising money to help the homeless people of Charlotte.
As of March 15, his GoFundMe campaign has already reached more than $30,000. All proceeds will be used to help homeless people and take families out of unsafe situations.
No matter how big or small, there are always opportunities to spread kindness if we only look for them. And just like Charles who made use of what he has, we also can make use of whatever resources are available to us to help others and make a difference in their lives.
For more positive news and inspiring stories, please visit Global Positive News Network.
