An elderly Kroger cashier was living in a homeless shelter. A stranger’s kindness turned it around.

The increasing cost of living, which includes rising food and rent prices, has made it hard for Americans to make ends meet. Seniors who had saved money all their lives are losing their funds in a bid to survive. The financial stress has been especially hard on the homeless as affordable housing is getting harder to find. In desperate times, the power of kindness was demonstrated by TikTok creator Charlie Rocket (@charliemore), who helped out an elderly cashier at his local Kroger store struggling to make ends meet. 

On his trip to the grocery store, Charlie came across a tenacious elderly woman working as a cashier. He couldn't help but talk to the woman to find out more about her life and see if he could do something to help. “I saw this elderly woman working at Kroger,” Charlie wrote in a video shared with millions of his followers on TikTok.

“The manager told me she’s living in a homeless shelter. Life shouldn’t be this hard. Let’s help her out," he added. In a follow-up video, Charlie went up to talk to the woman named Sonja and asked some basic questions to get to know her better. He found out that Sonja was homeless and had been working long shifts to stay afloat. When Charlie asked her what her dream in life was, the answer left everyone emotional. Unable to hold back tears, Sonja told him that her dream was to find affordable housing. "I’m staying at the women’s shelter," she added.

Charlie then followed that up with, “What is something you’re praying for?” to which Sonja simply said,  “Strength.” The woman further shared that it was the third time she was living in a shelter.

Thus, Charlie ended the video with a plea to his viewers, saying that he wanted to help Sonja and find accommodation for at least a year. Luckily for Sonja, Charlie wasn’t just any average shopper off the street. The creator is a philanthropist and the creator of the nonprofit The Dream Machine. According to the foundation's website, Charlie was diagnosed with a brain tumor which nearly shattered his dreams of becoming an athlete.

However, he overcame his medical challenges and continued to compete. He ran four marathons and successfully completed the 'ironman' challenge. He lost 125 pounds and his brain tumor went into regression, the bio noted. Charlie then dedicated his life to helping others and making people's dreams come true. 

Through The Dream Machine, he has helped several others who hit “rock bottom” like him. For Sonja, Charlie set up a fundraiser with a modest goal of $12,000 as he estimated that the housing that she needed would cost $1,000 a month in Nashville.

To everyone's surprise, contributions from Charlie's followers surpassed the goal in an hour, according to Goal Coast. In less than a week, the fundraiser amassed over $85,000 which was enough to put a roof over Sonja's head for the next seven years. At the time of writing, the fundraiser is still active and it has raised over $101,000 for Sonja.