Payless going out of business was good news for a family looking to do good for others.
Carrie Jernigan and her Arkansas family went from going on a simple shopping trip to buying out an entire Payless store. Her high school daughter purchased a pair of Avengers shoes that she knew a classmate would've liked since his shoes are usually too small. Carrie jokingly asked the store clerk how much for the rest of the shoes in the store when the cashier responded by asking for her phone number.
By the end of the day, Jernigan got an offer from the district manager to buy the rest of the store. Her daughter's generousity inspired her and they went home with 1,500 pairs of shoes.
She told THV11:
"I always tell my kids, if you ask them what they want to be when they grow up they say be kind, and so I don't care what they do in life as long as they are kind and good people. And so it just reiterates to me that their hearts are in the right place and if it's in the right place they can do amazing things."
Doing such a great deed sparked something within the rest of the community, who hopped on the bandwagon. Now, a public Back-to-School party will be held at Alma Middle School Gym to allow others to donate clothes, shoes, and school supplies before classes return in the fall!
Photo: THV11