VALDOSTA, GA (WALB) - A little goes a long way in some cases.
In this case, a homeless man will be able to travel just a little bit further after a Valdosta man gifted him with something he never expected.
Allen Weldon did the unexpected for a man facing many struggles.
“Step back and take a look at what could happen to you and look at these people's position, that could be you,” said Weldon.
Weldon did exactly that as he watched a homeless man on his bike nearly get run over.
Weldon said as he was driving home, he saw a truck tailing extremely close behind a man on a bike.
Once he passed them, he looked back and saw the bike had been run over.
“I just knew he was going to stop and when I turned around and looked in my mirror, he had run over him,” said Weldon.
So Weldon made a U-turn. He went back to check on the man riding the bike.
The man had jumped off the bike just before it was run over. But the man was beyond upset.
The driver who ran over the man's bike put both the man and his bike in the back of his truck and drove away before the police arrived.
But that didn't sit well with Weldon.
“I didn't think that he'd had a way to buy a new bicycle, so I posted a picture that I had taken on Facebook asking if anyone knew him,” said Weldon.
It was pure luck that Michael Henkels, owner of Azalea City Auto Sales saw the post. And Henkles knows the man.
His name was Ernest. A homeless man who stopped by the shop often to have air put in his bike tires.
And with the fates aligned just right, Ernest just happened to be walking down the street.
So, Weldon made a trip to Walmart and purchased a brand new bike.
Ernest was overwhelmed with joy.
“He broke down on his knees and started crying. He was real thankful. I felt pretty good,” Weldon.
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