It was early morning. We were driving to Philadelphia for yet another appointment. For one reason or another, it seemed like my parents were constantly taking either my brother or me to see the doctor.

As we were crossing the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, countless thoughts ran through my mind. How exhilarating it would feel to walk across the top of this monstrous bridge? What natural disasters could possibly occur at any particular moment?

Whenever we crossed the bridge, my imaginative brain would think of the bridge collapsing out of nowhere, our car falling into the deep blue abyss.

My brother and mom were discussing the upcoming appointment, and I was munching on a warm quesadilla from Taco Bell. It wasn’t too sunny, and my mood was already ruined from having to wake up so early.

The gloomy November weather just added to my unhappiness.

After crossing the bridge, my mom began pressing the breaks on our black minivan. We had arrived at a traffic light, the light glaring red. There were several cars ahead of us. In the middle of all that traffic, I noticed a young man holding a cardboard sign with neat, black writing.

The light then turned green, and our car slowly idled forward with the surrounding traffic. As we got nearer to him, I was able to read exactly what he had written. “Homeless. Anything helps.”

My heart sank. He was wearing torn up blue jeans with rips (not purposefully cut out for fashion). His gray tank top, that normally should’ve been tight to the skin, was loosely blowing in the cold wind. The only protection he had from the cold weather was a light plaid flannel that also exposed a few rips.

I had always been an advocate of helping people. I often got extremely upset when I wasn’t able to find solutions to problems. I have been a Girl Scout since first grade, and am also part of a church youth group that participates in many community service events and charities that focuses on helping the needy. Immediately, by instinct, I demanded that my mom roll down the window, so we could help this poverty-stricken man.

“Niki, I want to help,” she said, “but we don’t have time. The light just turned green, and I don’t think I have any cash on me either. I only have my credit card.”

“Please!” I said. “There has to be something!”

My brother chipped in, “Do you think he would want the quesadillas?”

I smiled gratefully at my brother’s ingenious idea. I grabbed the bag full of two whole quesadillas and handed it over to my mom. She rolled down the window, and the young man trudged over. My mom asked him if he would accept food because it was all we had on us at the moment. I will never forget the words he said next. The biggest smile broke out from his exhausted but handsome face.

“Thank you so much,” he said. “God Bless you.”

I often think thought about how happy that boy looked, and I felt like I had made an enormous positive impact even though it had just been a small gesture. I was a young girl at the time, so this one man’s reaction changed my whole outlook on what it felt like to help other people.

Even though I had helped people in other ways many times before that November day, now everything I did felt more rewarding because of this one man. He helped me truly realize the positive effect I had over the people around me.

When I helped people prior to that event, I never really got to see them in their natural, everyday life. After seeing this man freezing on the side of the street begging for anything people could offer, my desire to help others grew stronger. I was ignorant to what their lives really looked like because I had only ever donated items or worked at soup kitchens.

For a while, I couldn’t understand how this man, even after his unfortunate circumstances, could be smiling due to a small gift that I had the luxury of eating whenever I pleased. This cruel reality helped me strive to be a better version of myself.

Every time, even to this day, as we pass the road he used to stand on, I pray to never see him there again. I desperately want to believe that there were other people out there that helped him just as we had.