This story appeared in the Georgia Bulletin in May 2025.
Mama was at the grocery store when she noticed a man didn’t have enough money for food for his family. Seeing he was at wit’s end, she waited until he left and then paid for his groceries. Noting the kinds of things he needed, she filled her cart with additional provisions. She knew what it was like to be at rock bottom.
With more than $300 worth of food in her car, she headed to the man’s house after someone in the store tipped her off to the address. Rolling her unwieldy oxygen tank behind her, she inched her way to his front door.
After several knocks, the man finally cracked open the door just enough to see the tiny woman on his stoop. “What do you want? Whatever it is, I can’t afford it, been out of work for over a year. Go away.”
“Sir, I don’t want a thing other than to tell you that I have a car full of groceries for you.”
“Yeah, right, lady. This must be some kind of scam.”
At this point his wife came to the door.
“Ma’am, I’m trying to explain to your husband that I have a gift for your family in my car. I’m not physically able to get the groceries out, but y’all are welcome to go and get ‘em. And I’ll be out of your way.”
The woman is baffled. “I just don’t understand what you’re telling us. People don’t do this for folks these days. What’s the catch?”
“There’s no catch, honey. Let’s just say God sent me.”
But Mama, being prone to doing things big, didn’t stop there. She returned to the grocery store, talked with the manager, and procured a job for the man.
She went back to his house to relay the good news. This time she was greeted like a beloved babushka by the man, the wife, and their three kids. They met her at the car to spare her the walk.
“Darlin’, I just want you to know that they have a job waiting for you at the grocery store. Be there at 7 a.m., OK? I gotta run. Can’t miss the beginning of ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ Gotta keep voting for my guy Sugar Ray Leonard. Bye now!”
And with that, she was gone.
I asked Mama why she said that God sent her. This from a woman who had no use for religion and didn’t mind telling you so. Working hands meant way more to her than praying mouths.
“Well, Retta, I don’t know why I said that. Maybe this time he did send me.”
What a revelation to hear those words from my hard-boiled, proudly secular Mama.
Truth be told though, she helped anyone she could throughout her lifetime, even during the hardscrabble years. When it came to folks in need, she understood the assignment. But a Higher Power never figured in her equation.
What changed in this person who guarded her heart with barbed wire? Was God wearing down her defenses in her last years? Or was she an undercover saint all along?
While these must remain mysteries, one thing is clear. In the case of the man who needed a chance, she was most certainly the hands, the feet—and the eyes of Christ in this world.
Addendum
Local media outlets had been reporting on rackets involving “pitiful-looking individuals” who would knock on residents’ doors, elicit sympathy and then bilk them out of money. No wonder the man suspected Mama was a flimflammer. My beautiful mother, withered by advanced COPD, fit the description to a T.
Lauretta Hannon is a parishioner of St. Mary’s Church, Rome, and is a bestselling author. Her new book, “A Priest Walks into a Waffle House,” will be published in 2026 by Mercer University Press. She can be reached at hannonlauretta@gmail.com.