Homeless woman moved to tears by stranger’s act of kindness

CALIFORNIA (WISH) – A California woman’s act of compassion is resonating with hundreds of thousands of people.

Carmen Mendez shared the story on her Facebook page on Thanksgiving. She wrote that a few nights earlier, she and her boyfriend were eating at a restaurant called Raising Cane’s when a homeless woman walked in and asked people throwing away their leftovers if she could have them.

Mendez said not one person said yes.

She said she looked around for the woman as they were leaving, but she couldn’t find her. As she prepared to toss her leftovers, Mendez said she heard a quiet voice asking if she had anything left.

She gave the woman her one leftover chicken strip and few fries but Mendez said something didn’t feel right.

“I felt like a horrible human being feeding her my leftover chicken strip,” Mendez wrote. “She deserved so much more. So I bought her a whole meal. She deserved to eat a hot meal.”

Mendez described the look on the woman’s face when she surprised her with the meal.

“The look on her face said it all,” she wrote. “I have never felt something like this. Pure, real gratitude.”

The two then shared a special moment. A moment that’s now been seen by thousands of people. A moment of kindness.

“That hug she gave me was like a hug I had never felt,” Mendez wrote. “Those tears she shed were felt deep in my heart. I held her tight and let her let it out. I wasn’t repulsed by it. I just held her. And that is a moment I will never ever forget.”

Carmen’s post has been liked on Facebook nearly 250,000 times.