It’s always great to share a feel-good story, especially around the holidays.
This story comes courtesy of Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Tavon Austin and defensive end Robert Quinn. Combined, they spent more than $20,000 of their own personal money to furnish a residence for a single mother of six named Rebecca Carter.
Austin explained his personal motivation to help out a family in need.
“My mom was pretty young, and she did what she could do,” Austin said, per Alden Gonzalez of ESPN. “We had six people in the house, so I know how this feels. It put the drive in me to get to where I want to today. That’s how I looked at it, that’s how I approached it and that’s how I took it. Hopefully one of them little boys in there take it the same way that I took it. ‘I’m going to get Mommy out of here. I’m going to get us out of here.’ That’s what I did.”
The young mother that Austin and Quinn helped reportedly had just reunited with her six kids. Carter has had to deal with sexual assault and all of the emotional challenges involved. She was even homeless during stretches of time before she turned to LA Family Housing for assistance.
Quinn is the one who connected with United Way of Greater Los Angeles that in turn referred him to LA Family Housing when he learned about Carter and her family.
“Once they told me the full story, and what she was going through, and how young the kids were, I just kind of took a step back and kind of put myself in their shoes,” Quinn said. “If someone gave me an opportunity to restart, how appreciative would I be to them? I think it just starts with one person, one soul, one spirit. It starts there.”
The best part of this story is how the Rams’ players as well as the president of community affairs surprised Carter. Per the report, Carter arrived to do a walk-through of an empty residence. She was pleasantly surprised by the Rams’ personnel, all six of her children and a home filled with everything she put on her wish list earlier in the month.
Some of the awesome things provided in the house were a Christmas tree fully decorated and a new flat-screen television. In addition to the home furnishings, was clothing, a computer and games and toys for the kids. The final surprise was when Austin gave Carter tickets for this Saturday’s home game against the San Francisco 49ers. This was followed by Quinn pulling out a bunch of $100 bills to help out with the concession stand items, per the report.
Carter described the life-changing experience.
“A new beginning,” Carter said of what all this represented. “A new start. No more worrying. No more stress. No more depression. It’s over. I’m with my family. We’re all together, and I’m happy.”
We wish the Carter family all the best as it embarks on this new life with the help of these two altruistic Rams players.