We all aspire to be nice people, but few of us make the same sincere efforts as this modest farmer in Alabama did for more than ten years.
For years, Hody Childress made a modest monthly cash delivery to his neighborhood drugstore to assist those in need. After he has passed away, strangers have stepped up to carry on in his charitable spirit.
On New Year’s Day, Hody Childress passed away, leaving behind his children, grandchildren, and a full life. He was an Air Force veteran, a product manager at Lockheed Martin, and a farmer in the Alabama town of Geraldine. He had accomplished many wonderful things in his life.
Only 910 people live in Geraldine, which is around 60 miles southeast of Huntsville. The small-town lifestyle implies that most residents are well familiar with one another. Hody, however, was able to keep a very big secret to himself for many years.
He had been covering the medical bills and prescriptions of numerous town residents for the past ten years without anyone knowing. His contributions were intended to help locals who couldn’t afford them with their bills.
The man entered Geraldine Drugs in 2012, asked for the proprietor, Brooke Walker, and gave her a $100 cash.
He reportedly informed her, “This $100 is for anyone who can’t afford their medication,” according to Birmingham’s WVTM13, which first reported the incident. Do not divulge to anyone where the money came from. Inform them that it is a gift from God.
The generosity of Childress is all the more remarkable when you consider that his sole sources of income were Social Security and a meagre pension. For ten years, he continued to give the $100 on the first of each month. His cumulative donation over time was therefore nearly $12,000!
His donations provided prescriptions, drugs, and EpiPens for an average of two people each month, according to a Washington Post article. He merely requested that his money not be used to pay for painkillers from the staff.
Childress had experienced what it was like to be unable to pay for essentials. He didn’t have power in his home till he was seven years old while growing up in poverty. His first wife had multiple sclerosis and passed away in 1999. His grandfather and middle son perished in a tornado in the 1970s.
The generous man was disabled by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in late December of last year. At that point, he made the decision to tell his daughter, Tania Nix, what he had been up to.
Nix affirms, “He was always a great man and a fantastic father. “But, I discovered that he was more amazing than I had ever imagined.” Nix confessed his secret on January 5 at her father’s burial.
Yet, despite the man’s passing this year, the pharmacy continues to accept donations for its less fortunate customers. People from all over the world have been donating generously in honour of the man who used to drop by once a month.
To maintain the man’s legacy and ensure that the money that strangers continue to donate goes to the correct place, Geraldine Drugs has now established the Hody Childress Fund.
