Nichole Lemieux lived in Haverville, Massachusetts, with her two children, a boy and a girl, aged six and two respectively.
The single mother and her children had been homeless for more than two years, as Lemieux told WBZ TV.
“We just got this apartment after almost two-and-a-half years being homeless.”
Nichole also told the reporter that her daughter had never seen a Christmas tree or a picture of Santa Claus. In fact, she hadn’t slept in her own bed to that day.
The family had been staying at a shelter for more than a year, and that definitely had an impact on the children.
And, if family homelessness sounds weird to some, it is a very real problem. Research has shown that the US has more homeless families than any other industrialized nation, with a typical homeless family being a single mom and her children.
It is shocking that one in thirty American children is homeless, while 2.5M children are homeless each year nationwide.
As for the impact this condition can have on children, it has been found that homeless children are prone to depression, anxiety, and they lack self-esteem.
However, the homeless days were over for Lemieux and her children, and she was super excited about it.
“It’s one of the best things we could have asked for for Christmas,” she said.
She was equally happy to share the news with a friend she met at the grocery store.
That Tuesday night, Lemieux was food shopping at Haverhill’s Central Plaza Market Basket, when she saw an old friend.
They chatted about how life was going, and Nichole happily shared that she had just moved out of the shelter and she couldn’t wait to start this new chapter in her life.
Turns out, things were about to get even brighter.
A man who happened to be around approached her and asked if she had been staying in a shelter. He’d overheard their conversation.
“I said, ‘Yes. My children and I have been in a shelter for just over a year. We moved on Monday.’”
That’s when the stranger decided to do something incredibly kind and unexpected. Although he didn’t know the single mom, he wanted to give her a gift.
Lemieux explained:
“He took out his wallet. Grabbed a $100 bill and handed it to me and said, ‘Buy yourself something nice for Christmas.’ I hugged him and I lost it.”
Nichole couldn’t believe what had just happened. A stranger had just gifted her a significant amount of money, which she could use to buy goodies for her children, as Christmas was around the corner.
The man, who was something like a Secret Santa for the family, was kind enough to give away some of his money to help a family in need.
Nichole, who was left speechless when the incident happened, then tried to locate the kind man who helped her family have a better holiday.
“He has no idea what he’s done for us. At the end of a very hard year, that was unbelievable,” she said. “No one has ever done something like that. I didn’t realize people like that still exist.”
Unfortunately, there is no update on whether she managed to find the stranger and buy him a coffee to thank him as she so much wanted.
Still, the man’s act of kindness was priceless for this mother and she will never forget it.
You can watch the mom talk about the sweet incident in the video below!
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