When a hospital security camera alert interrupted a chemotherapy session, most people would have ignored it. But what Marin and David discovered on their home camera feed—a young student sitting perilously close to rushing traffic—prompted them to take action despite facing their own life-threatening challenges.
During an early September chemo infusion appointment for David, the couple checked their home security system after receiving an alert. The footage revealed a middle school student perched in the dirt at the very edge of their property, with vehicles speeding past just feet away.
“We were in the hospital early September for David’s chemo infusion,” Marin explained. “We opened up the camera and there was this child sitting looked like a middle schooler. Cars were just zooming by and we’re like well that’s not safe!”
From hospital to hardware store
The young student was simply following her bus driver’s directions about where to wait, unaware of the danger posed by her proximity to the busy roadway. Rather than dismissing the concern while dealing with David’s cancer treatment, the couple immediately formulated a plan.
David proposed purchasing a bench and positioning it safely away from the road. Without delay, they ordered one through Amazon while still at the hospital. By the weekend, after returning home Friday, they had assembled the bench and created a secure waiting area for the student.
A nervous wait turned into joyful discovery
The middle schooler had harbored concerns about waiting on the couple’s property, fearing a homeowner might confront her angrily. When she first noticed the wooden bench, her father assumed it was private property and instructed her not to use it. Their understanding changed when they spotted the small bus stop sign that Marin and David had thoughtfully placed beside the seating.
“I was literally jumping with joy,” the girl shared. “I got a bench, I got a bench, I got a bench, specifically for the school bus stop.”
Notes, snacks, and a lasting bond
The gesture blossomed into an unexpected friendship between the homeowners and their young neighbor. The student left a thank-you note on their door, which Marin discovered and shared with David via FaceTime during another hospital stay. He insisted they respond, launching an exchange that included correspondence, potato chips, and flowers.
The couple expanded their kindness by installing a small free library adjacent to the bench. When the girl saw it, she asked her mother to stop the car so she could examine it, responding with visible excitement. The trio adopted endearing nicknames for each other: “Buskid” for the student and “The Bench People” for Marin and David.
“Having my own little bus stop helped me feel seen and made me look forward to going on the bus every day,” the girl said.
Their first face-to-face meeting occurred when Marin spoke with the student’s father one afternoon before the bus arrived. When the girl stepped off the bus and met Marin in person, she expressed her excitement and appeared ready to embrace her benefactor. The student expressed hopes of using the bench throughout her remaining school years. The story’s widespread online impact inspired Marin and David to write a children’s book based on their experience.
As the girl perfectly summed it up, “Just a little bit of kindness can go a long way.”
Despite navigating David’s cancer treatment and frequent hospital visits, the couple chose not to postpone their act of compassion until their circumstances improved.
The Bible says, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so. Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it,’ when you have it with you.” (Proverbs 3:27-28, NKJV)
Sometimes we can see that someone needs help, but we wait for them to ask. Or we tell ourselves we’ll help once things settle down in our own lives. But as children of God, we are called to have a heart that feels the pain of others, a heart that won’t rest until we’ve done something about it.
Do not wait until everything in your life is perfect to show kindness to somebody else. Do it today. God knows what you’re going through, and He will never stay in debt to anyone who shows kindness. As the Bible says, “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” (Galatians 6:9, NKJV)
WATCH: Couple’s Act of Kindness to Young Girl Touches Millions
