Business Owner Sparks Wave of Generosity after he Offered his Parking Lot as a Safe Space for the Homeless [Video]

• A business owner in Charlotte, North Carolina, started his mission to help the homeless community after he saw first-hand how bleak the situation is for several homeless people.
• James Charles, the manager of the Kiplin Automotive Group in Charlotte, offered his parking lot as a safe space for people who call their cars home.
• He also set up a GoFundMe page and started a nonprofit organization to help raise more money for Charlotte’s homeless community.

The homeless people of Charlotte, North Carolina, now have a safe space to spend the night after a business owner opened up his parking lot to people who have been calling their cars home.

James Charles, the manager of the Kiplin Automotive Group in Charlotte, first thought about the initiative back in January when his repossession team tried to take back a woman’s car.

Charles told WBTV, “The gentleman who was repossessing the car said, ‘We can’t take the car, there’s somebody living in the car.’”

So he tried to help the woman get into a homeless shelter. But to his shock, all of the city’s shelters were already full. As he paid for her hotel stay for a few nights, he realized that more people are struggling like her.

Charles said that he took it as a sign that they needed “to be more involved.”

So Charles took to Facebook to spread the word about his initiative: “We would like to designate a safe place for those going through this tough time. We can’t put everyone in a hotel, but we can get you a safe place for the night.”

“We will provide a safe place to park at night. As this service to the community develops, we will look to help these families in other ways, but right now, a safe place is what we can offer,” he continued.

Donations started pouring in as his post gained more and more attention. He had started a wave of generosity! People donated food, toiletries, hats, scarves, and even a portable toilet for the parking lot.

And 20 different people took up his offer to park their cars at the lot overnight.

The overwhelmingly positive response inspired Charles to start a nonprofit, called “Helping and Leading Others Now” (HALO Now), to help raise more money for Charlotte’s homeless community.

He also set up a GoFundMe campaign, which has since raised more than $32,000.

The campaign page read, “Any donations, no matter how small, will go towards helping homeless individuals and families who have fallen in between the cracks and need a helping hand.”

Source: Good News Network