Man Gets Invited to Thanksgiving Dinner After Saving Stranger’s Life
One family in Illinois has a lot to be thankful for this year — and an extra guest at their Thanksgiving table — thanks to a stranger’s selfless act.
On Saturday, Nov. 16, Guy Miller was walking his dog Bentley outside his home in Aurora when United States Postal Service (USPS) worker Jaylen Lockhart spotted him take a fall, reports NBC Chicago.
Lockhart told the outlet that he saw Miller take the “tumble” through the rearview mirror of his truck, and he quickly got out to help him and call 9-1-1. After flagging down some neighbors, he got Miller’s address and told his wife, Marcia, that he was hurt.
“I wasn’t sure exactly what I was getting myself into. But I did know that whatever he was going through on that ground, we were going to go through it together,” Lockart told WLS-TV.
According to a post on the city government’s official Facebook account, Miller is “bruised but will be ok.”
“Jaylen’s quick-thinking, selfless actions helped to save the day,” the post added.
The incident caused Lockhart to gain an extended family in the Millers, who invited him and his loved ones to join their family for Thanksgiving.
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“I said, ‘What are you doing for Thanksgiving? You have family? Yeah?’ We said, ‘We’re family, definitely,'” Marcia recalled to NBC Chicago, noting that it is “just really good to see kindness and compassion and care in the world.”
At the annual Aurora Winter Lights Fest, Lockhart helped light the city’s holiday tree and was honored with the Mayor’s Award of Service by Mayor Richard Irvin.
“You make us all Aurora proud,” Irvin told Lockhart during the ceremony, per WFLD.
It was a moment that the postal service worker will never forget.
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“I’m blessed and so glad that I was chosen to do this,” Lockhart told WFLD. “I will hold this near and dear to my heart.”