Pictured: Customer Caleb Duncan (center) is recognized and thanked for paying-it-forward at a DG store in Atoka, Tennessee. Also pictured are Terann Fisher, Store #16212 Manager; Bill Horton, DG District Manager; Bro. Michael Pense, Bread of Life Food Pantry; and Mark Person, DG Regional Director.
Each day, Dollar General operates through its mission of Serving Others, and customer Caleb Duncan illustrated that mission by paying it forward during a recent visit to store #16212 on Highway 51 in Atoka, Tennessee.
While checking out, Duncan noticed a fellow customer ahead of him at the checkout counter. “She was looking for receipts and stuff, and you honestly never know what someone is going through. That might be their last dollar,” Duncan shared in an interview with WREG-TV.
Duncan decided he could help.
“Everybody had a few things here and there, and it looked like I had enough money,” Duncan told WREG.
Though Duncan was out of work at the time, he said he felt like helping others that day. He gave the cashier $80 toward his purchase and told her to keep the change for the purchases of those behind him. Another customer, Dalton Watkins, was in line to purchase a candy bar but after hearing Duncan had already paid for it, Watkins told the cashier he wanted to pay for the customer behind him.
“I think it’s an amazing thing,” Watkins told WREG. “If more people in this world would be willing to help people like that, we would be in a much better position because there is not enough nice in the world.”
To recognize Duncan’s spirit of Serving Others, Dollar General’s district manager Bill Horton and regional director Mark Person presented a donation of $1,000 to Bread of Life Food Pantry of Tipton County. Additionally, Duncan was presented with two Dollar General gift cards – one to keep and one to continue ‘paying it forward’ however he sees fit.
“Dollar General is proud to be America’s neighborhood general store since our founding in 1939, serving the communities we call home and staying committed to our mission of Serving Others,” said Horton. “Our team was moved by Caleb’s generosity toward his neighbors and wanted to recognize him with our own display of gratitude. We hope his act of kindness continues to inspire others to look for ways they can also pay it forward.”