Mitchell St. Marie had already lost his job and his home when he was faced with another misfortune — not having enough money to pay his storage unit’s rent.
“We checked Mitchell’s balance and he only had about $68 left in his account,” said Oregon City police officer Mike Day, who was recently named a homeless liaison by his department.
At first glance, there didn’t seem to be an answer. Both Day and the facility’s manager, Michelle Gardiner struggled to figure out how to avoid telling the now-homeless military veteran that he had to remove his stuff and go somewhere else.
Then someone else entered the place: a deliveryman from Pioneer Packaging named John Dale, who brought so much more than just packing supplies.
This from KGW:
“While the manager was talking to the officer, I just kind of asked, ‘How much does he owe?’” Dale said.
“Next thing I know, [Dale] goes, ‘I’ll pay for it!’” Officer Day said. “We said the rent was $172, and he said, ‘OK, well matter of fact, I’ll go ahead and pay for two months.’”
Dale said it just felt good to give back, something he said his parents taught him to do.
“I got to help somebody out and bonus—it was a vet,” he said.
The group went and told St. Marie, who had been sorting through his belongings, preparing to part with most of them.
“He teared up a little bit,” said Gardiner. “He just couldn’t believe that somebody was willing to do something like that for him.”
“I still have faith in humanity,” said Day.
“I’m nobody special. I’m just a guy who happened to be in a certain place at a certain time. I saw an opportunity to help somebody so I did,” said Dale.
A delivery truck driver helps a homeless vet in Oregon City, just in time. "This restored my faith in humanity." pic.twitter.com/SUOLVw0S52
— Katherine Cook (@KCookKGW) July 7, 2017
“He wants to get on his feet very much,” said Day. “I hope and believe that what Josh did will spark others to do good deeds.”