5-Year-Old's Touching Act of Kindness Toward Homeless Man

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The story of an Alabama boy’s thoughtful gift of dinner — with a blessing — for one hungry man in his neighborhood is inspiring readers around the world. (Photo: WSFA 12 News). 

Sometimes among all of the incessant “Why? Why? Whys?” that your average 5-year-old asks comes a question that stops you in your tracks. That’s what happened for mother Ava Faulk a few weeks ago heading into the Prattville, Ala., Waffle House for dinner with her 5-year-old son, Josiah Duncan.

“We saw a man who was dirty, holding a bag with his bike outside,” she told WSFA 12 News, adding that she explained to Duncan that she thought the man may have been homeless. That one word opened the floodgate of big questions from the little boy including, “What does that mean?” followed by, “’Where is his house? Where is his family? Where does he keep his groceries?’”

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Her son was most concerned, though, that the man seemed hungry. And what he did to remedy that has made headline news, thanks to an email Faulk penned to WSFA 12 News about Duncan’s inspiring gesture, which they shared on Sunday. (Faulk didn’t immediately respond to Yahoo Parenting’s request for comment).

The boy urged his mom to buy the man dinner — then sang him a prayer blessing before the man began to eat the hamburger he ordered with extra bacon. “I wanted to say the blessing with him,“ Duncan said of the hymn he crooned as 11 other customers watched, and cried along with his mom and the man as well. “God our Father, God our Father, we thank you, we thank you, for our many blessings,” Duncan sang. “For our many blessings, Amen, Amen."

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As soon as the local news station shared the story, comments began flooding in commending the youngster’s thoughtful gesture. “A lesson in humanity from a 5-year-old,” writes one of the station’s Facebook page, where they boast that the story is “trending on Facebook, and we’ve gotten calls from as far away as Germany and Australia.” Adds another reader, “This little child can teach some of the older generation a thing about helping others.”

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(Photo: WSFA 12 News)

The boy’s dad, Zach Duncan, bragged about his son on Facebook Sunday: “Couldn’t be any prouder of my little man and his love for Jesus and helping others!” But he tells Yahoo Parenting that he’s not surprised his son did a good deed. “He’s a very curious kid and will ask questions until he is satisfied with the answer,” explains the father. “Once he found out that the man needed something, he saw a window to help.” Which the elder Duncan says his boy naturally followed through on. “He has always been a very sweet child and would do anything to make you smile.”

And mom shares the sentiment. “Watching my son touch the 11 people in that Waffle House tonight,” she wrote in the email to WSFA 12 News that prompted their story, “will be forever one of the greatest accomplishments as a parent I’ll ever get to witness.”

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