to buy each man a Burger King sand-
wich and handed the food out him-
self. Seeing what their presence meant
to the men at the ministry, Austin
and TJ returned the next week. Austin
again dipped into his piggy bank to
buy sandwiches, which he handed
out along with his new catchphrase,
“Don’t forget to show love!”
After he returned every week for
five weeks, word of Austin’s acts of
kindness spread through social media
and national news outlets. Burger
King jumped aboard, agreeing todonate $1,000 a month for an entire
year toward the cause. Soon, churches
and shelters across the country began
inviting Austin to come distribute food
in other poverty-prone areas. He’ll
have visited at least 15 locations by the
end of this year, including Skid Row in
Los Angeles and parts of Puerto Rico
affected by Hurricane Maria. Whereas
before Austin and TJ could feed 25 to
50 people at a time, now, thanks to cor-
porate and community support, they
can feed 800 to 2,000 people at once.
But Austin isn’t just filling bellies.
He’s improving the lives of those he
meets. On that first trip to Firehouse
Ministries, TJ and Austin talked toa man named Raymont, who was
estranged from his family. The respect
Austin bestowed on 41-year-old Ray-
mont touched the man, and he shared
with TJ just how grateful he was to be
treated so considerately by a four-
year-old stranger. Raymont and TJ
kept in touch. With help from TJ’s
mother, Audrey Perine, who worked
at the Alabama Department of Trans-
portation at the time, TJ helped Ray-
mont collect all the credentials he
needed to get a driver’s license. The
license helped Raymont get a job. And
with money in the bank, he was able
to rent his own apartment. All that
was made possible because a little boy
took the time to care.
Austin’s passion has now become
his family’s calling. After raising
money through a GoFundMe page,
Audrey established the Show Love
Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated
to fighting homelessness. She now
serves as president, and TJ left his
job as a project manager for a hospi-
tal chain to oversee public relations
for the foundation full-time. He’s in
talks with the city of Birmingham to
secure the redbrick building where
it all started—Firehouse Ministries is
moving—as the site of their own shel-
ter, which would offer medical and
mental health care as preventive steps
against homelessness.
As for President Austin, he contin-
ues to give out food, smiles, and his in-
spirational message of love. “It makes
me feel like I’m saving the day.”AUSTIN DOLES OUT
FOOD AND A MOTTO:
“DON’T FORGET TO
SHOW LOVE!”Reader’s Digest Everyday Heroes
12 dec 2018 )jan 2019 | rd.com