It was lovely September morning on the first day of my “staycation” in Winchester and my wife and I decided to go out to Burger King for breakfast before heading out to run our planned errands for the day. While I was waiting for my food, I noticed an older gentleman, with what looked like a bag of clothes, come into the restaurant and head down the hallway towards the employee entrance. Seeing a man of that advanced age going to work at a fast food chain had me wondering about what brought him here. Did he need the job? Was he just looking for something to do? While I thinking about this, he appeared back out of the hallway and out the door. That’s when I realized he wasn’t an employee and was most likely a homeless person using the bathroom. I watched as he made his way to the 7-11 right next door. I decided at that point he would be my first RAK.
Once my food finally arrived, I hustled over to the 7-11 just as he was leaving with a small coffee and a doughnut. As I approached him he appeared to be in his early 70’s. I stopped him and asked him if he was homeless. He looked at me with a smile and said confirmed that was the case. I explained the RAK and told him that I was going to give him $100 and that I didn’t want him to worry about things, at least for the day. He graciously accepted the money with a “God Bless You and your company”. He added that was in fact on his way to see his son and his daughter-in-law. I asked where they lived to which he responded “Pennsylvania”. Walking to Pennsylvania, Ugh. With that information, I knew that I needed to give him more money in the hopes that he would be able to utilize it for transportation. I pulled out the other $100 and gave it to him expressing my hopes that this would help him in his travels. His smile and gratitude assured me that this was the RAK I hoping to find.
-Chris Markert
