It all started when a news network, NewsChannel 3, decided to hear one homeless man out. Neal Shytles, a taxi driver who lost his job and home, went on television to ask for one thing: a family on Thanksgiving. Something that so many of us take for granted, was one man's wish. Not even a home or a hot meal, not a car or a fancy TV — just a family.
“It hurts me to be alone, no family or nobody around,” Neal said. After his plea aired, something amazing happened. The letters and phone calls began to flood in inviting him over. But it was one family, who understood all too well what Neal was going through, that was first to reach out.
Ashley McLemore and her husband Cory, a military couple who are familiar with being torn apart from loved ones on the holidays, invited Neal over. There are 600,000 homeless people in the U.S.
“He started crying and then I started crying and we were both crying,” Ashley says. “Because we've been military, I identify with having to be away from your family and not having family around for the holidays, so it kind of struck a chord with me.”
“I was crying when she called me and I had to excuse myself because I was emotional,” Neal says. The couple welcomed Neal into their home for the holidays and showed him that family isn't necessarily about blood relation so much as it is about whom you open up your heart to.
Please SHARE this story if it made you want to hug your family a little tighter this holiday season!
