A little good goes a long way. As cheesy as it can sound, it's one of the most accurate ways to describe Quincy Amarikwa's act of generosity that swept social media Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
In Las Vegas for a conference, when he called a cab to the airport to head home, he decided to start a conversation with his driver, Pedro.
"Any person I was standing next to on this trip, I would strike up a conversation with,” Amarikwa said. "I probably met 10 or 15 people who have amazing stories."
One of them was Las Vegas-based cab driver Pedro.
"We hop in the cab, say hello to the driver. I'm not sure where he's from but he does have an accent. He was a really nice guy.
"We talked [eventually leading to his background] and he told us; 'The world I used to live in 30 years ago when I started cab driving, you could make a good living. I was a middle class person, I provided a service and people respected the industry. Now I have to drive twice as long for half as much money.'"
After inquiring further, Quincy came to find that Pedro was two months behind on his mortgage payments.
Then, this happened:
An act of generosity with the only catch being Quincy's request of Pedro to help someone else the next time he was able.
Amarikwa wrote him the check, took a photo to remember the man by, and said goodbye.
Aware that some may call it a 'PR stunt', or disingenuous, Quincy proceeded to share the photo to his Snapchat for the sole purpose of spreading positivity and encouraging others to do the same.
"There is always something you have of value that the person next to you could benefit from. For me, helping him with his mortgage is something within my resources, Quincy said. “If you think of others first, you'll have everything you need. If you do something good for someone out of the kindness of your heart, they feel more compelled to the the same or more for someone else."
"A lot of people have already reached out since and said 'I am paying it forward today because of that.'"
Quincy's message? Spread the positivity, Quakes fans. Pay it forward however you can!
