Homeless Man Gives Woman His Last $20, So She Raises Hundreds of Thousands To Repay Him

Tom Knighton | 9:22 AM on November 27, 2017

In this Nov. 17, 2017, photo, Johnny Bobbitt Jr., left, Kate McClure, right, and McClure's boyfriend Mark D'Amico pose at a Citgo station in Philadelphia. When McClure ran out of gas, Bobbitt, who is homeless, gave his last $20 to buy gas for her. McClure started a Gofundme.com campaign for Bobbitt. (Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

The phrase “he’d give you the shirt off his back” is routinely used to describe someone who would give everything to help another, but how many are as giving as Johnny Bobbit, Jr.?

Bobbit recently stepped up to help a literal damsel in distress after Kate McClure ran out of gas. McClure pulled over and got out of the vehicle to walk to the nearest gas station.

Bobbit, however, was having none of it. He knew the neighborhood was a dangerous place for a woman to walk alone:

[Bobbit] told me to get back in the car and lock the doors. A few minutes later, he comes back with a red gas can (and) his last 20 dollars to make sure I could get home safe.

This is a serious act of generosity from anyone. But Johnny Bobbit is homeless, and that last $20 may have meant all sorts of important things to him. He gave it to someone in need, even though most of us would have seen Bobbit as the one in need.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bobbit is a former Marine.

He fell on hard times due to drug use and money problems, but he remembered how to act like a Marine.

McClure was so appreciative of his act, she started a GoFundMe campaign. Her goals were simple:

I would like to get him first and last month’s rent at an apartment, a reliable vehicle, and 4-6 months worth of expenses. He is very interested in finding a job, and I believe that with a place to be able to clean up every night and get a good night’s rest, his life can get back to being normal.

The campaign has amassed, as of this writing, almost $380,000 for Bobbit.

With that money, Bobbit could buy a modest home, a reliable vehicle, and get any treatment he needs. Hopefully he can find and maintain gainful employment.

You can’t save everyone, no matter how much you want to, but someone who would do what Bobbit did is the kind of person I think we’d all like to see get a leg up. That level of selflessness isn’t unusual for a former Marine, but it’s something we all want to see a whole lot more of.

Bobbit, McClure, and the outpouring of help for him make me proud to be an American.