A man named Leon
Logothetis hit the road less than a month ago to “spark a contagious chain reaction
of acts of kindness.”
It’s already
succeeding.
In New York City,
he chanced on Ed Plumacher, a legally blind man who runs the nonprofit AccessQuest for visually
impaired people. Logothetis, in partnership with the travel search engine
Trivago — the sponsor of his #GoBeKind campaign — gave Plumacher $1,000 to help
start a podcast for the blind.
In Chicago for Week
2, Logothetis met a homeless man named Daniel who was smiling at passersby,
doling out compliments and holding a large cardboard sign that said: “Life is
Beautiful. Never say Never, Because it’s full of Surprises. Be thankful for the
little things you have today because Tomorrow???”
Daniel said he
became addicted to painkillers after a work injury but had been clean for four
months. Logothetis gave him $1,000 to help him get back on his feet and
reestablish contact his estranged family. Within days, Logothetis tweeted that Daniel had
indeed “connected again with his mum.”
In St. Louis for the next installment, he met a woman named Janet, who had “gray hair and a warm smile. But behind her kind eyes, I saw a pain she tried to hide from the world.” She choked up as she told him of her work with children, and how much it meant to her. He thanked her by giving her $1,000, and she was nearly overwhelmed as she told him, “I’ve been asking God for some signs — to help me. Thank you.”
But it’s Leon Logothetis’ most recent #GoBeKind stop, in
Denver, that so far has reverberated most. He met James Moss, a barber who had
just moved to Denver from New York City on the promise of a place to stay and a
well-paying job — both of which fell through while Moss and his little son were
traveling across the country. When they arrived, their bus tickets were stolen.
Logothetis gave the single dad — who also has a 5-year-old daughter, but she’s
staying with Moss’ mother for now — $1,000 and seven nights in a hotel.
A stranger from a town named Goodland in Kansas set up a GoFundMe account for
Moss and his boy. At the time of this writing, Kayla Heskett’s campaign had
raised about $37,000 from more than 1,000 people — though the goal had
initially been just $7,000, to buy a car for Moss. (Heskett provided further
information about the effort at GoFundMe’s request, and Leon Logothetis and the
#GoBeKind project confirm that
She also checked in on Logothetis’ Facebook page over the weekend to
offer this update: “James and his son are now staying with basically a host
family :) I set them up with an amazing family that volunteered to take them in
until he could find something permanent. He has requested his funds from go
fund me but the campaign hasn’t technically ended until we shut it down, which
we will as soon as he receives his money which should be Wednesday hopefully
faster. It takes 2-5 business days. Thank you for donating and supporting
James. When leon got me in touch with James the first thing I told him was
"you don’t know me, but you’re about to” I stayed true to my word. Our
initial goal was 7,000 be bumped it to $10,000 and now $20,000 which is as high
as we discussed. Although it has almost $30,000!! How amazing!! Thank you
everyone so much again everything is looking up for James and Zhi.“
Heskett asks
people to remember:
"Some aren’t as lucky as James to have so much support.
There’s always someone that needs help in this world. So feel free to help them
as well. And remember never look down on someone unless you’re helping them up.
You don’t know what the situation is or where they’ve been in life.
"For more information on how to #GoBeKind in your
community, visithttp://checkin.trivago.com/GoBeKind”
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