Months after moving to Kerrville, Texas, John Melendrez stood in a neighborhood deli with a sandwich he just realized he couldn’t pay for. His only credit card was declined, and as he apologized to the owner, Chong Chin, embarrassment washed over him.
The two men had never met. But as Melendrez turned to leave empty-handed, Chin looked up from behind the counter, smiled, and waved him back. “Don’t worry about it,” Melendrez remembers Chin saying. “We need you to eat.”
It was a small act of grace, but one that lingered long after the meal.
Six years later, their roles have reversed.
After sweeping floodwater swallowed Greengrocers – Chin’s gourmet grocery story – Melendrez is now helping his neighbor, cutting drywall and gathering volunteers to haul trash bags stuffed with mud-caked debris, ruined furniture and waterlogged memories.
