Atlanta Woman Thanks Ludacris for Buying Her Groceries in Viral Facebook Post
Ludacris becomes the latest rapper to deliver a random of act of kindness. According to an Atlanta area woman by the name of Therra Cathryn, the Fate of the Furious star paid for $375 worth of Whole Foods groceries for her when she was at a breaking point. The widow recounted the heartfelt story in a Facebook post that has since gone viral.
In the post, Cathryn, whose husband passed away after a bout with brain cancer some time back, details a story of her struggles dealing with financial hardships and a disproportionate amount of responsibilities. Among those responsibilities include taking care of her disabled brother and six rescued animals.
The financial parts of her problems came in heavy when she had to pay for $2,000 for a new water heater recently. Making matters worse, she says, was the fact that she hadn't been paid a check she was owed for some of her freelance writing work. Noticing her strife, Cathryn's friend sent her a $250 Whole Foods gift card to buy some groceries. That's where she met Luda.
As she was prepping to buy her groceries, Cathryn noticed that the pet food she had bought herself ended up being grouped with the groceries of the man in front of her. While she insisted on paying for the items herself, the man wasn't having it. “I might as well get it," he said.
From there, the man, whom Cathryn later realized was Ludacris, proceeded to pay for all of her groceries.
"I stared wide-eyed at this handsome young African-American man, this stranger, as if he'd just dropped through the ceiling like a black James Bond, like a Batman, like the Black Panther," she remembers. "Then I started to cry."
The encounter didn't end there, either. Cathryn still didn't know the identity of the good Samaritan she'd just encountered. Luda told her his government name, Chris, but things still hadn't clicked until after he left the store.
"We shook hands. Then I hugged him, shedding tears on the tattoo on his shoulder," she remembers. "I thanked him but I was so stunned that even as we made small talk (he asked me about my four dogs) I tripped over my words, all the while thinking, "I'm talking to an angel. Should I tell him? Should I tell him he's an angel?" Luda also complimented her for being nice to rescue dogs.
After Luda left the store, Cathryn got her big reveal. "The cashier came around to put the last of my treasures into my cart and said casually to me, “You know that’s Ludacris, right?” Cathryn recalls. "'WHAT' I screamed. Everyone behind me in line that had watched his drama unfold started talking to me at once," she said.
She continues, "'I love him!' I yelled and in my hysteria launched into the worst possible White-woman rendition of his hit “Rollout (My Business)” thus probably undoing all goodwill any person of color in that line felt for me while watching me sob so gratefully on the Grammy-winner’s shoulder."
After recalling the story itself, Cathryn gives some big thanks to Luda, praising the rapper for his kindness and generosity.
"What Ludacris had no way of knowing is that I'm Hurricane Katrina survivor and I lost my mother because of that unnatural disaster," she writes. "What Ludacris had no way of knowing is that his quiet kindness and generous gesture came at a moment when my candle was out. He used his personal light to fire up my own. Isn't that what we should be doing for each other? I think it is. Be like Ludacris y'all. I know I'm gonna do it. Pay it forward. We can, every one of us, do SOMEthing for others. You never know a stranger’s full story when you reach out a hand and yank them into a better place. Thank you, Chris. God bless you."
Check out all of Cathryn's heartfelt open letter for yourself below.
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