Homeless Man Finds $10K Check, Returns it to Single Mom Who Was Once Homeless Herself
Roberta Hoskie is a motivational speaker and real estate broker and investor. Though she has described herself now as a “serial entrepreneur,” life didn’t always look this way for Hoskie.
At one point in her life, she was homeless. She used to be a single mom on welfare.
Hoskie has taken those experiences and now uses them to “empower others,” according to her Facebook page. On Nov. 8, she turned to Facebook Live for advice on how to best empower a particularly selfless man.
Her live video began with Hoskie explaining that she was looking for a man named Elmer. Elmer Alvarez saw an envelope on the ground outside and opened it.
Inside was Hoskie’s check for $10,000. Her phone number was on the check so Alvarez’s friend helped him call Hoskie to inform her that he had her missing check.
She thought that the check was in her car and had no idea she had dropped it. They decided to meet up on the street outside.
All Hoskie knew was that she was looking for a man wearing a New York hoodie. The man wearing the New York hoodie turned out to be Alvarez’s friend.
He introduced Alvarez to Hoskie with a piece of information that made his good deed even more heartwarming. Alvarez was homeless.
Alvarez told WTNH, “I was just thinking about how that person was feeling by losing an amount of a check like that, an amount of money like that. I’d be feeling kind of desperate.”
Hoskie broadcast her meeting with Alvarez on Facebook Live. She opened up the envelope, pulled out the check, and showed it to viewers.
“There are good people out here. Look, $10,000,” she said. Hoskie was so touched that a homeless man went out of his way to contact her about the check that she wanted to write him a check.
She thanked both men and shook their hands. They assured her that they would stay where they were while she left to decide how she could not just give money, but really empower Alvarez.
The story only became more heartwarming when they shared with one another their belief that God must have ordained this moment. Hoskie then turned her attention back to the camera, asking her viewers how she could bless the homeless man.
One viewer commented, “Teach him to fish.” Hoskie had a lightbulb moment and realized she could send him to her real estate school.
She exclaimed, “I’m going to teach him to fish!” Hoskie wrote Alvarez a check and will help him take steps toward his education and getting an apartment.
Alvarez did the right thing with the check, despite owning little himself. It sounds like Hoskie will make an excellent mentor for Alvarez and comes from a place of understanding, as she was once homeless herself.
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