Soldier Gives Away Money Raised for His Family After House Was Looted
I know that human evil shouldn’t surprise us anymore. I mean, we live in a world that saw the Rwandan genocide and the Cambodia Killing Fields.
To quote the old Latin proverb, “man is a wolf to man.” And it’s not just in the big things that we act awfully toward each other.
People steal and lie and cheat in tiny ways every day. Yet we shouldn’t forget that sometimes they also act generously.
Just consider the case of Army medic Luis Ocampo. According to People magazine, Ocampo lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his girlfriend Kailey Finch.
When Hurricane Florence barreled into North Carolina in September, the North Carolina National Guard sprang into action to help those devastated by the storm. Ocampo traveled to New Bern to aid the dispossessed, and Finch and their son went to Ocampo’s parents’ house.
When a natural catastrophe occurs, you’d hope that people would come to one another’s aid. Yet that’s exactly what didn’t happen to Ocampo and Finch.
WSOC reported that thieves broke into Ocampo’s house while it stood empty and took everything of value that wasn’t nailed down.
A firearm, a video game console, a television, a laptop, jewelry, all of it vanished.
“I don’t know how people can be so terrible,” Finch said. “It’s not something you can get back.”
Fortunately, that wasn’t the end of the story. A friend and coworker, Mary Elise Capron, started a GoFundMe campaign to aid the young couple.
“(Ocampo) did all he could to help those in a time of need, and now he is the one in a time of need,” Capron wrote. “Every penny could help himself, his girlfriend, and their baby.”
“I have worked closely with Ocampo in the National Guard, and he is an amazing soldier and person. I am honored to know him and cannot believe something so terrible could happen to someone so dedicated to the service, his family, and school.”
People answered in a big way. In less than three weeks, they tripled the $5,000 campaign goal.
The response floored the pair. Never in their wildest dreams did they imagine such a generous response.
“It was overwhelming,” Finch said. “It was way more than we needed.”
So they made a decision: They had Capron halt the campaign and began sending excess donations to the Soldiers and Airmen Assistance Fund.
Ocampo explained, “A big part of wanting to give the donations comes from seeing how generous people have been, and I wanted to pay that back to someone else who needed help.”
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