The holiday season is a time when human hearts warm to each other. Robbie and Dominique’s experience is a true human interest story.
Most major cities are loaded with so many homeless panhandlers that passersbys become desensitized to the constant pleas for financial assistance. If asked, very few would probably ever expect one of those homeless people to help them in return if the need ever arose.
In a strange turn of events, one evening in Preston, England, a homeless man known only as Robbie offered a stranded 22-year old college student, Dominique Harrison-Bentzen, his last 3 pounds (equivalent to $4.72) to take a taxi home. The student didn’t accept the money but she couldn’t forget the depth of selflessness and chose to find a way to repay Robbie for his kindness.
Harrison-Bentzen opened a Twitter account named @Help_Robbie, and used it to raise funds to help the generous stranger. Harrison-Bentzen’s goal was to raise enough money to put a deposit on an apartment for Robbie. She asked each donor to offer 3 pounds, the same amount Robbie initially offered her. A December 13, 2014 tweet from @Help_Robbie read, “In just one day yet another target has been smashed! Let’s hit the 2500 [pound], this is absolutely AMAZING! Thank you!!!”
As of December 17, 2014, donations reached a total of 21,000 pounds which is equivalent to $33,034. Harrison-Bentzen enlisted the help of her mother to drive around the town and find Robbie to deliver his gift in time for Christmas.
Doprah No Filtah is a full believer in the philosophy of paying it forward. Generosity and underground hip hop seem to be the only things able to warm her inner city heart. Follow her on Twitter @SNSNightlifeMag.
