A man who used to panhandle outside of a Texas Outback Steakhouse while experiencing homelessness is now one of their employees after being offered a job.

Kenneth Smith, a Black man from Fort Worth, Texas, said Laura Hodges offered him a bussing job after learning about his story, The Washington Post reported. Smith said he had accepted the offer right away.

"It's been really hard, but altogether, God, He'll never forsake you. He's blessed me with a job," he said.

Hodges said she initially helped Smith because those experiencing similar adversities are often invisible to other people.

“I just thought it was a beautiful story,” she recalled of learning about Smith’s past.

Four years ago, Smith was evicted from his apartment after grieving the loss of several family members.

"My grandmother used to tell me that life is not always going to go according to how you want it to be. She said that life is good, but it can also be tart at times," Smith said in an interview with Good Morning America.

Smith previously worked at fast-food restaurants, but once he got evicted, he began panhandling in hopes to earn enough money so he could afford a $55 per night motel room, according to The Seattle Times.

“I was feeling hopeless without a job,” Smith recalled.

But a stranger and regular patron of the restaurant saw Smith one day sleeping outside the restaurant. After he told her he was starving, he said she bought him a $100 gift card for him to spend on meals. He said he initially thought the woman was going to call the police.

Hodges later learned of Smith and his story and as a way to “pay it forward,” she offered him to come back whenever he needed a hot meal. Smith willingly returned, often agreeing to help out to earn money.

Seeing his eagerness to work, Hodges said she offered Smith the bussing job when a position opened. He said he couldn’t believe it when she asked him.

“I was overwhelmed— I was like really shocked,” Smith said. “I was so happy. I couldn’t believe it."

Hodges said she now has a mentor-mentee relationship with Smith right. In addition to their professional relationship, Hodges has assisted with his affordable housing needs after the motel where he was staying began raising its rates. Smith's new manager called Fort Worth Foodies, an organization that aims to connect people through food, to get some assistance for her new employee, according to its Facebook page.

Within 24 hours, the group helped raise $2,000 with others donating a bike and clothes.

“It’s an honor, it’s a privilege of me being there,” Smith said of his new job. “It feels good not to just go out there and have my hand out.”

Right now, Smith has worked in the restaurant for almost two and a half months and earns $6 an hour as a busser. Although he said he must first save his money, Smith has his eyes set on opening a restaurant of his own, according to Good Morning America. He said tt would be inspired by his grandmother’s cooking.

“I could call myself a chef — a Chef Boyardee,” Smith said. "I want to cook some good food and have people taste my food as well."

Similarly, YouTuber and TikToker Phillip Vu recently made headlines for raising more than $17,000 for an unhoused man, as Blavity previously reported. After striking up a conversation with him and sharing bits about the man’s story to his followers, Vu inspired supporters to chip in some funds on GoFundMe.

Kenneth Smith

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