Natalia Chi
Geraldine, Alabama — If you need to restore your faith in humanity, the pharmacy in Geraldine, Alabama has the medicine for that.
It’s a story of kindness that began ten years ago when a man walked in and asked to speak to pharmacist Brooke Walker.
“I thought he needed advice on drugs,” Walker said. “Then he said, ‘Who can’t afford the medicine?'”
She always told him
“He said he wanted me to use this the next time it happened,” Walker said.
The man gave her a $100 bill. This was the first of many of his $100 bills he anonymously donated to help people in Geraldine who can’t afford prescriptions, including people like Brie Schlageter.
“To be honest, I was hopeless,” said Schlageter. “I thought, ‘What should I do?'” I was defeated. [Walker] “Thank you for your help,” he said. And I said, ‘How? ’”
None of Geraldine knew how. No one knew who was who until the donor died a few weeks ago and his full picture was revealed.
His name was Hody Childress and he was an Air Force veteran and farmer.
His kids, Doug and Tania, weren’t surprised when they learned the secret.
“He wasn’t a wealthy man, but he was probably the richest man on the planet,” said Doug.
“He’ll say he’s building his wealth forever, not here,” added Tania.
In fact, they said Childress was almost bankrupt after spending over $10,000 on other people’s prescriptions.
The high cost of prescription drugs is a problem that extends beyond rural Alabama. Humble farmers are limited in what they can do to fix it. But as is often the case with kindness, small acts can initiate monumental movements.
Evidence of that appears daily in pharmacy mailboxes, with people donating to keep the fund at Geraldine or pledging to start the fund at the pharmacy.
“It just blew our minds,” said Doug.
Doug and Tania say generosity doesn’t take away their pain, but it gives them purpose.
“You made a big impression on people,” Tania said at her father’s grave recently.
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Steve Hartman
