An elderly woman living in poverty, without friends or family, wrote a tearful note to the restaurant staff who gave her a free burger on Christmas Day.
The unidentified woman wrote the touching message to the staff of Black Sheep Burgers & Shakes in Springfield, Missouri, after the owners offered a free burger to anyone in need on December 25.
‘Thank you very much for the kindness of all of you! It would have been a very boring Christmas for me because I don’t have any family anymore,” she wrote in perfect italics.
“I never thought about this years ago, but being the youngest in my family, I’ve seen everyone before me leave this earth.”
She explained that she was living off her Social Security benefits, which forced her to “downsize” by renting a room and sharing a house.
“It feels like I’m back in college!” she wrote.
‘A dear friend heard about the free meal offer and invited me to ‘Christmas lunch’. Great idea since I only had $1 left!
‘The food was delicious, as were the staff. Thanks again for making it a day to remember! Blessings.”
Restaurant owner Mike Jalili was deeply moved by the woman’s letter and now wants to invite the woman to a late Christmas party with him and his family.
An elderly customer messaged Black Sheep Burgers & Shakes in Springfield, thanking them for their kindness and explaining her loneliness around the holidays
Black Sheep has four locations in the state of Missouri and has been ranked by TripAdvisor as having the best burgers in the state (photo: the downtown Springfield location)
He explained: ‘We gave free burgers on Christmas Day, no reservations, no names, we only care for those in need. She just happened to come in there that day and a few days later we got this letter.”
Jalili is unsure who the woman is and shared the letter on Black Sheep’s Facebook page in an attempt to track her down.
Jalili wrote: ‘We are looking for this lady who sent this letter to Blacksheep centre. If you know who she is, please send us a private message.’
“I want to invite her to our house for a holiday, this is the reason I am trying to locate her,” he later explained.
Black Sheep customers have responded to the note and Jalili’s kind intentions, saying they are “not surprised” by his gesture.
One woman said, “This doesn’t surprise me that the owners are trying to adopt her as family and invite her to their gatherings! They often invited my father, when he said our family didn’t! And he went!’
The owner of Black Sheep Burgers & Shakes in Springfield, Mike Jalili, said he wants to find the sweet woman and invite her to his home for a late Christmas party.
“My heart breaks for this poor lady but I’m so grateful that you were a safe place for her on vacation,” another user chimed in.
“Gah, this brought me to tears. I really hope you find her. I bet a lot of us in the area would love to befriend her too,” one person said.
DailyMail.com has contacted Jalili for comment.
According to their website, Black Sheep has four locations in Missouri. TripAdvisor ranked their burgers as the best in the entire state.