Here’s a story that has all the ingredients to make you simply feel good inside! It’s also proof that plenty good exists in our community.
A mother took to Facebook asking for suggestions of where she could take her 4-yr-old daughter for Valentine’s Day.
“Possibly one where children under 4 eat free. Need it to be in the Denham area. I just want to make my girl’s Valentine’s Day special like she is! Also it needs to be fairly cheap as I only have about $30 to spend,” said Victoria Michelle in her post.
Even though she only expected suggestions for a restaurant, Anthony Sanders stepped up telling the woman to go to the Casa Maria restaurant in Watson and that he would pay for it.
“My wife leaned up to me to show me the post and she knew as soon as I saw it, I would jump on it. I tagged Fahim (the owner of Casa Maria) that send me the bill,” said Sanders.
When Sanders was asked why do this, his response was, “Why not do it?”
“I don’t know her. She has a 4-yr-old and I have a 5-yr-old. I’ve been in rougher times when I couldn’t pay a light bill. I just feel like the more I give back, the more I get back. I feel like everything comes back 10 fold,” said Sanders.
Here’s the part that will give you all the “feel goods” on the inside! Sanders is fighting his own battles right now. His mom is battling stage 5 cancer while his father is fighting stage 4 cancer. His customers just held a benefit to raise $30,000 for their hospital expenses. Sanders said his mom is without chemo right now and they stopped treatment on his dad because it’s making him even sicker.
“My dad has a false hope that he’s going to beat it. My mom had 9 surgeries in 51 days and is now without a tongue, lip and much more. She’s on a feeding tube. My dad retired and became her caretaker but now he’s also got cancer and is worse than she is. It’s definitely life changing,” said Sanders.
At a time when Sanders could say he needs to spend every last penny on his parents, he didn’t hesitate to step up and offer to pay for a stranger’s meal. Sanders, 35, said the flood of 2016 changed his outlook on life.
“Tomorrow is not granted so if I can do something today to help somebody, I do it,” said Sanders. “I try to do the same for others as they would do for me if I were on hard times.”
But the story doesn’t end with Sanders paying. When he tagged the owner of Casa Maria in Watson, Fahim Jamil, to send him the bill, Jamil went further telling Michelle “you and your family have a Valentine’s Day meal on us.”
“I cannot see a family like that struggling so if I can be a part of it, why not. To be honest with you, I always do donations and help out the community. With her being from Watson, when I read that post and when Anthony tagged me, it touched my heart and I wanted to be a part of it. It means this community takes care of each other when there are rough times,” said Jamil.
Jamil explained that he grew up very poor back in his home country of Afghanistan. When he did move to the United States, he started as a dish washer. Now, he owns his own restaurant and said, “To be able to help this family out, it’s my way of giving back because I know what it’s like being poor. I’m from Afghanistan and growing up there, I was very, very poor so to have my own restaurant, is a huge blessing for me. I love to help people especially in my community of Watson.”
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