At the beginning of this month, Ethics Alarms honored Ashley McLemore of Norfolk, Virginia, who answered the ad placed by a homeless man, Neal Shytles who wanted to spend Thanksgiving with a family. He spent the day with hers, and for Christmas, Shytles devised a way to help others like himself in need of holiday kindness.
Neal resolved to make goodie bags for the hundreds of men who always assemble for dinner at his local mission, creating a Facebook page to collect Walmart gift cards to purchase socks, gloves, hand warmers and candy. His efforts raised more than a thousand dollars that was matched by the local TV station that first broadcast the story of Ashley McLemore’s kindness. Then WTKR took Neal to Walmart, where he filled four carts, and its staff helped him assemble the gifts into dozens of brown paper bags.
Thanks, Neal. I needed this story.
Ethics Alarms 
I guess he should be thankful that he did not become Thanksgiving dinner.
I know some people who deride the movie “Pay It Forward,” but in fact I believe firmly it is a wonderful, ethical, kind concept. Members of my family have had the “pay it forward” experience, when they had car trouble and strangers stopped to help. In response to my family’s offer to reimburse/pay them for their trouble, their response was “Absolutely not. Just pay it forward.”
Why are there so many cynics out there? Sure, millions have been “taken” by those supposedly in need (and I’m one of them) but personally I would rather help 10 people who need me and be used by 15-20 who don’t.
Call me naive or a sap, but I’d rather do good and ask for others to do the same rather than assume everyone is conning me.