A homeless man in Colorado Springs spent three hours pushing cars out of the snow Saturday. Today, because his good deeds did not go unnoticed, his luck — and his life — is turning around.
Shelby Hudgens and his dog have been living in his blue Ford Mustang since November when his house burned down. He came to Colorado Springs to look for a new job and start fresh.
A TV news crew from KOAA-5 saw him helping motorists who were getting stuck on Fillmore Hill and featured his random acts of kindness in their nightly newscast. He told them he has enough to get by, and “it could be worse.”
But on Monday morning News-5 viewer Sarah Webster started a “GoFundMe” page to collect donations for Shelby.
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The news crew found Shelby later that day at a local hotel after another viewer offered to put him up for a few nights.
“He was overwhelmed with gratitude when we told him about the GoFundMe site a complete stranger had set up for him,” reported KOAA.
Shelby posted a comment later on the GoFundMe page, which has collected almost $6,000, telling donors, “There really is nothing I can say that can adequately express the gratitude I have for everything everyone has suddenly done for me. This is beyond amazing. Thank you, everyone for the kind words and donations. I’ll be looking for a pet friendly apartment this very week. “
His favorite job was working in an assisted living facility and his dream is to become a certified medical assistant, so he can help more people who need it. The money raised so far, Shelby says, is “enough to prepay a couple of months rent and be able to pay for the CNA class and state testing.”
(READ more from KOAA) – Story tip from Joel Arellano