Hey folks, this is Max Young-Rice from the StoryCorps podcast.
Just want to remind you that you can tell us your personal stories by calling our voicemail at 702-706-TALK.
This week, tell us about a little thing someone did for you that made a big difference.
That's 702-706-TALK.
I'm not saying life is easy for anyone, but some of us have it harder than others, a lot harder.
And when you meet someone like that, it can be tough, not knowing how to help or knowing that their problems are too big for you to solve.
And yet, even if you can't fix everything, a little bit of kindness can lighten the load.
This man handed me a $10 bill.
I thank him.
That meant so much to me.
It was you who came up to me.
You're like, it's going to be okay.
How can I help you?
We went through our archive the largest collection of recorded human voices in history to find stories about little gestures that meant a lot.
I was down and you helped me up. your heart touched their heart.
You were always that person.
I could pick up the phone and you calmed me down.
That voice, safe.
I felt safe.
Someone's kindness made a difference.
That's what's led me to where I am.
I'm Jasmine Morris.
It's the StoryCorps podcast from NPR.
First we're going to go to the West Los Angeles VA Hospital, where veterans go in hopes of feeling better.
And for a long time, they often ended up looking better, too.
In the 1970s, a Vietnam veteran who goes by the name Dreamer started giving free haircuts at the hospital from a red, white and blue trailer in the parking lot.
He did about 200 haircuts a month.
In 2011, Paul Crowley showed up looking for a trim.
When I showed up, I was washed.
Yeah, you'd been drinking.
I was totally out of hope.
And part of that was the way I looked.
I hadn't shaved in a couple weeks.
My hair was filthy and scraggly.
But getting the haircut made me feel for lack of a better word normal, which I hadn't in a long, long time.
When I first ran into you, I saw a guy that could at some point rise above it.
And I just felt that I can help you.
Abraham Lincoln once said, never underestimate the power of a haircut.
Of course, he never said that, but he should have said it.
I try and help you out.
Yeah.
I mean I'm not cutting hair, but when I'm there at the trailer I've watched the guy that just came right off the streets not doing too well.
And the only thing he has to pay you with is an orange.
Whatever you got, we'll make a deal.
I got rubber band balls.
I've got pebbles, rocks, washers.
I've never seen you turn anybody away.
It's amazing to me to see the guys that come in in the beginning.
And then after they've been there a little while, they're going out to look for work.
And they walk in with a suit and the haircut you had given them the day before.
You can't even recognize them compared to the day they walked in there.
You impressed me from the very start.
And I respect what you have imparted to me.
It's what... has made me into a better person because of my interaction with you.
Thank you, buddy.
We're going to move forward.
That's why we comb our hair backwards.
That's right.
After they met, Paul became Dreamer's assistant and helped him provide the same kindness to other veterans that Dreamer had given him.
Up next, a little bit of comfort from a little kid.
Cecily Chambers is a chaplain who works with seniors and hospice patients.
In 2014, she visited a retirement home in Massachusetts for people with memory loss.
She wanted to bring her eight-year-old son William, with her because she knew the residents liked having kids around.
She just wasn't sure how he would feel about it.
What went through your mind when I said do you want to come to work with me and visit with some seniors?
My original thought was, oh no.
You'd rather stay home and play video games?
Well, I was a little afraid.
Then when I got there, I really liked it.
Why did you like it so much?
I liked it because they were very thoughtful.
They were very accepting.
I remember the first day I took you.
We sat at this long table and I was helping feed a resident who couldn't feed herself.
And you sat at the end of the table with another resident who just started talking to you and you just jumped into her world.
You didn't try to correct her.
She had a baby doll and she thought the baby doll was real.
You didn't say, oh, no, that's just a doll.
You just went with her.
I think people are free to think whatever they want to think.
They don't need to believe in what other people believe in.
What have you learned from the residents?
I think I learned about the importance of being present.
And the beauty of just little small moments.
They made me think you should enjoy life as much as you can because it doesn't happen forever.
Do you think it was hard to say goodbye to them every day when you know they may die sometime soon?
It was hard.
There's no doubt about it.
Every time I left there, I knew that there was a chance that one of them wouldn't be there when I got back the next week.
Do you think that your experience coming to work with me will affect you in the future?
I really do.
You can say no.
I think before I wouldn't think as much about the world and how hard it can be.
And I wouldn't be the same person.
Do you like the person you are today because of that?
I really do.
Yeah, I think that's really important.
I like the person that they've helped me become.
Eight-year-old William Chambers with his mom, Chaplain Cecily Chambers, in Providence, Rhode Island.
When we come back, someone who lost everything but gained a friend.
I was scared to death.
I said I have to start over again.
And I remember being crouched down and it was you who came up to me.
Stay with us.
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Welcome back.
Sometimes when things are really dire for someone, the best thing you can do is just be there.
In 2019, Brittany Bauk and her eight year old daughter had been living in a domestic violence shelter for the better part of a year, when they finally moved into an apartment of their own outside Chicago.
But not long after, a massive fire broke out in their building.
Charlie Sharp is a Red Cross volunteer who responded that day.
It was only about a two-minute drive from my house.
There was nothing left of that 40-unit apartment building except parts of a couple of walls.
I left with the clothes on my back because everything was lost.
Everything was gone.
I was just trying to get myself back on our feet.
And then that's when the fire happened.
It was like, all right, well, we're homeless again.
You know I can't do anything about the fire, but the people that were there, that's where my concern was.
And most of the people there had family, their friends that they could go and stay with.
I had nobody.
Nobody.
I was scared to death.
I said, I have to start over again.
And I remember being crouched down and it was you who came up to me.
You're like, it's going to be okay.
What do you need?
How can I help you?
That day that we spent together was amazing.
So personal and so emotional.
But then we didn't see each other for quite a while.
It was like five years and there was another large apartment fire and the Red Cross was involved, like we always are.
I just remember tapping on your shoulder and I'm like, Charlie, it's Brittany.
I ended up becoming a social worker.
And the look on your face, you're like, no way.
What a surprise.
I know.
I was so happy to see you again.
After that, I realized that I liked having you in my life.
Yes.
You're stuck with me.
I'm glad to be.
There isn't a whole lot we have in common.
My kids are all older than you.
And when you have spare time, you know where you're going to be, right?
You're going to be going to fires with me.
Yes, I am.
You know, you are someone so important to me and just a friend for life.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
You've changed my life, too.
Brittany Bauk and Charlie Sharp in DeKalb, Illinois.
For our last story, another second chance.
We're going to West Virginia, where Cindy Kirkhart runs a food bank.
Scott Thompson started working there in 2021 after serving nearly five years in prison for drug charges.
I just got to the sober living house.
I'm so fresh out of prison.
And the guys were like, hey, do you want to go with us to the food bank to volunteer?
And I'm like, freedom?
I can leave somewhere?
Yes, please.
And I was like, I need a job.
You're a felon.
You better just work wherever somebody will take you.
And this place might actually hire me.
Mm-hmm.
What was your first impression of me?
You interviewed me.
And I was very intimidated because I thought you were so fierce.
You can own a room the second you walk into it.
But you offered me a job in the warehouse.
Just let me get my foot in the door somewhere.
So why did you decide to give me a chance?
Because...
I believed in you.
I really have a strong belief that we all have a gift that we're sent to share with the world.
When I was a kid, I never knew we were poor, but I knew that our cupboard would be empty before my mom got paid.
And sometimes someone would come and knock on the door.
And when we went to open the door, there would be a box of food.
Someone's kindness made a difference.
That's what's led me to where I am.
And I think you had that too.
Through the majority of my childhood, I lived right next door to my grandfather, who was every bit of a role model.
He would pull me out of school to go deliver food boxes to families in need.
And my family members tell me, if your grandpa was alive, he'd be beside himself, because he raised me and trained me to do what I'm doing.
I wish I would have started sooner.
Thank you for giving me purpose.
When you decided to give me my chance, you changed the entire trajectory of my life.
I don't just get up and go to work every day.
I get up and feed people every day.
And it's so much more than a job.
And I'm glad and I'm honored. to be in the position to help you do it.
Well, it's my honor as well.
Thank you.
Scott Thompson and Cindy Kirkhart.
Facing Hunger.
Food Bank where they work provides food for more than 150000 people in West Virginia.
That's all for this episode of the StoryCorps podcast.
But we want to hear your stories.
Our voicemail line is always open.
So this week we want you to tell us about a little thing someone did for you that made a big difference.
Leave us your answer in a voicemail at 702-706-TALK.
That's 702-706-TALK.
The stories on this episode were produced by Joe Corona, John White and me.
They were edited by Michael Garofalo and Amy Drozdowska.
Special thanks to facilitators Naomi Bleck, Eloise Meltzer and Diane Bazooka.
This podcast is produced by Max Young Rice.
Our senior producer is Judd Esty Kendall.
Amy Drozdowska is our executive producer.
Our technical director is Jarrett Floyd.
I'm Jasmine Morris.
Thanks for listening.
