Meet MARIA

My new Brazilian friend Maria put her hand on her chest and said, “I have a bad heart.”

This is one of several Kindness Card stories from Brazil I’ve been holding onto.

Avenida Paulista is like the Times Square of São Paulo. Maria was sitting on the sidewalk between bank towers and high-end stores.

I smiled at her and kept walking.

But when I could still see her smile in my mind’s eye two blocks later, I turned around.

At first I stood beside her.

Then I knelt.

Then I sat down on the sidewalk next to her.

She’s had several heart surgeries. She showed me the scars. Her last hospital stay wasn’t far from where we sat.

Not long ago, she was in a hospital bed. Now, she sleeps on the street.

While we talked, most people walked right past. A few said hello. Maria said hello back and asked God to bless them.

I asked her if it hurt her feelings that so many people passed by without helping.

“Not at all,” she said in Portuguese.

And as people continued past us, she kept offering the same blessing.

God bless you. God bless you.

I gave her some of the money that many of you entrusted to me for this trip.

She literally clutched the gift to her chest and her eyes filled with tears. For a moment, it looked like she was hugging the money.

Then, before I knew it, she was hugging me.

She told me she has a bad heart.

I don’t believe her.

To those who’ve donated to our movement over the last couple of months, this moment is for you. 

Thank you from the bottom of Maria’s beautiful heart.