Posted on 04/28/2017 3:10:27 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A New York man said a free pizza saved his life.
Dennis Kust, 59, lost his wife last month after a long battle with cancer.
He admitted that he was struggling with depression when he walked into Albert’s Pizza in Ronkonkoma, New York, CBS New York reported.
He received a free pizza as part of a “pay it forward with pizza” campaign.
Kind customers had stepped forward to pay for pizzas for police officers, single mothers and people like Kust who are struggling.
When Kust opened up the pizza box from an anonymous donor, he found, written in colorful letters, a message that read “Stay strong.”
It’s the same message that he heard his wife say every day before she died.
“The last month of my wife’s life, she kept telling me, ‘You have to be strong, you have to be strong,’” Kust told CBS New York.
Kust said the pizza box’s message convinced him that his wife was still with him.
He went back to the store later to thank the owners and to give them a handwritten letter explaining how much the simple act of kindness meant.
“You don’t know me, but on March 25th, you turned my life around,” the letter read.
Rich Baer, co-owner of Albert’s, said he has read the letter dozens of times, and it always brings him to tears.
“When you do something nice, it works. You see somebody benefit,” Baer told CBS New York.
Kust also stepped up to anonymously buy a pie for someone else.
It’s unclear how the pizza restaurant knew that Kust was going through a tough time, but the action affected him in an important way.
“I’d like to somehow thank the people who bought it for me and let them know they saved my life,” he told CBS.
The pay it forward pizza movement is growing rapidly, with dozens of customers buying pizzas for others. Like Kust, most are donating anonymously.
My thought exactly.
Just something as simple as that message can help someone that’s really struggling in this tough old world. Scoffers may scoff, but it until you’ve walked in that man’s shoes, no one knows the anguish he’s been thru.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Nice story.
For all the caregivers out there... Thank you, and stay strong...
God bless this man and the kind person(s) who paid it forward.
A relative and I were battling cancer at the same time, and she always ended her messages with “Stay strong.” Sadly, she did not make it... a beautiful mother gone so young. :-(
Moving story!
We need more of these stories to combat the evil we are continuously being bombarded with.
Stay strong!
Thank you Jesus for being in our lives and staying in our lives.
The owner didn’t HAVE to know ... it wasn’t his job, .... God had everything under control
Pizza joints on Long Island get a good deal of community traffic. Not surprising someone reached out to Kust.
Good story.
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"Riamh nár dhruid ó sbairn lann!" |
Amen.
My thought exactly.It’s unclear how the pizza restaurant knew that Kust was going through a tough time
I have seen a friend looking so low that he coulda crawled under a snake’s belly. Losing your father can do that to you. I wasn’t in a position to stay around to talk to him, but I did what I could at the time. Later on he checked himself in . . .He’s fine now, glad to say.
If that is meant to be sarcastic I thank you from the bottom of my sarcastic heart.
I lost my wife to ovarian cancer on the fifth . . . well, I didn’t really lose her - just a temporary separation as she is with her Saviour in glory.
“Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might!” (Ephesians 6:10)
The honest truth is that without the Lord’s presence in my life I do not know how I make it these last couple of weeks . . . but God is good - and He has a perfect plan for the lives of His children.
I have donated to http://pizzaidf.org/
Same message. Different world.
+++++++++++
Sarcastic? No! It brought a tear to my eye and so I looked for a cute "sniff" image. Nothing appealed to me conveying what I was feeling, then I saw Dean Winchester crying...
So true, Pilgrim’s Progress, the separation is temporary.
The widowers in our family will always be heartbroken, but they were such blessings for their wives here on earth.
Thank you for being a blessing to your wife. So sorry for your loss.
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