Earlier this month, an 18-year-old Florida Footlocker store employee showcased her Christmas spirit when she decided to gift a 10-year-old boy with a pair of shoes that his family could not afford.
Jodyn Brammeier Vasquez decided to give the little boy, Jonas Nielsen something special out of the goodness of her heart when she saw the child starring at a pair of dark blue and turquoise Air Jordan Nike’s in the Footlocker store, ones that he later tried on while his mother, Gigi Pena was finishing up some shopping.
When Pena popped in the store to pick up her son, the mother asked Jonas, “Why you making that young lady work when you know we can’t afford these shoes?” The Air Jordans come with a price tag of $95 at the Leesburg, FL mall.
Without hesitation, Vasquez asked Pena if she could purchase the shoes for Jonas. In response, Jonas’s mother was hesitant to say yes, because the young boy had a decent pair of shoes at home and did not need them.
However, Pena finally said yes, and her son got his first pair of new shoes from a store.
After that, Pena explained that the whole experience, “… just melted my heart.”
“It was an act of kindness that wasn’t expected and it brightened up (Jonas’s) whole day,” she added.
The Footlocker sales clerk stated that, “There’s many reasons I had for helping him.”
“As a kid, I had always wanted a pair of Footlocker shoes,” she explained, “but could never afford them, so I could relate to Jonas. I was in foster care for almost two years and moved in with my new adoptive parents about this time last year. I might not have had the greatest past but they’ve given me so much to look forward to. I realize that the world might not be beautiful all the time, but we are the ones that have to make it what we want it to be.”
Last week, Jonas and Pena reunited with Vasquez for lunch and to give the young woman a certificate of appreciation.
(H/T Fox 2/KTVU)