It happened in Philadelphia, one of the poorest cities in America among those of similar size.

A customer in a pizza parlor left an extra dollar after paying the bill and tip for the server. He said that it was not extra tip, but a “prepayment” for the next customer who couldn’t afford a meal. The owner/manager not only agreed that he would save the dollar that way, he put up a bulletin board and let other customers know about it. On this board a post-it sticker represented a prepayment of a dollar. If you walk in his restaurant and want to donate a dollar or more, the manager will put up the corresponding number of stickers for you. If you are buying food and are short a dollar or a few dollars, the manager will simply take off that many stickers from the board to make up the difference. You are square with the restaurant; you don’t have to pay them back.

Word spread and now the prepayments make up about 10% of the restaurant’s business. One of the recent prepayers was formerly homeless who was helped by the restaurant before. Since then he had found a job and he was paying forward too, he said.

A Dollar

A dollar?
Why bother!

Slice of pizza
Pepperoni or Hawaiian
Sausage or vegetarian

Hungry Peter
Famished Lisa

A meal
A human feel

Like fire behind the hearth
Like warmth in your heart
Kindness grows
On a mere dollar
On a share of dough

Did you think I made up this fairy tale? No, I did not. It’s a true story recently reported by CNN. I hope you help someone with a dollar once in a while. And you don’t have to fly to Philly to do it.

*** The End ***

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