On May 22, 2019, tornado sirens echoed through the streets of St. Louis, Missouri, signaling residents to go home and take cover from the incoming storm. But for Gregory Beck, getting home is no easy feat.
A year prior, Gregory lost both of his legs and his vision to diabetes, rendering him unable to drive a car. Since then, Gregory has been using a manual wheelchair to get around his hilly neighborhood.
On this particular day, Gregory was on his way home from the grocery store when he heard the sirens. Since his home was too far away, he decided to seek temporary shelter at a nearby gas station. But as he struggled to wheel himself across the busy street to the gas station, frantic motorists honked and yelled at him to get out of the way.
When Gregory finally made it to the gas station, he was shaken up and worried that he wouldn’t be able to make it home before the storm.
Suddenly, a car pulled up alongside Gregory. 16-year-old Seth Phillips and his mother Amber rolled down their windows to ask Gregory if he was okay. Concerned for Gregory’s well-being, Seth decided to help Gregory get home safely.
Seth, who was wearing flip flops, hopped out of the car and proceeded to push Gregory up the quarter-mile-long hill to his home.
When a reporter at KMOV4 asked Seth why he decided to carry out this act of kindness, he responded, “We need to be caring for each other and helping each other out.”
But Seth didn’t stop there. After noticing that Gregory’s wheelchair wasn’t suiting his needs, Seth and Amber decided to set up a GoFundMe to buy him a new chair. Inspired by their touching story, the community came together and raised nearly $5,000 for Gregory and his new wheelchair. To learn more about this incredible story, listen to Seth and Amber’s interview on the True Stories of Good People podcast.