Posts Tagged With: cerebral palsy

Lee Bondurant of Raleigh, North Carolina, was “touched” last month when a stranger offered to feed him after learning he has cerebral palsy and is unable to use his hands.

The kind act occurred when Lee, 51, was joining his mom, Linda Bondurant-Snow, for a Memorial Day weekend meal at 42nd St. Oyster Bar in Raleigh on May 28.

“Lee is such a positive person. He never has lost faith in his fellow man,” Linda Bondurant-Snow of Garner, North Carolina, wrote in an email to ABC News. “If anything, Lee lifts others up. This is not only coming from me as his mother. You could ask anyone at his job, or [a] friend.”

Courtesy Linda Bondurant-Snow

Because Lee is unable to use his hands, Linda was trying to feed both herself and Lee at the same time when their waiter, a college student named Five, offered assistance.

“He casually came over and asked Lee if he had ever had oysters,” Linda recalled. “Lee told him he had not. So, [Five] asked [if he] could he serve him his first. It was smooth not to embarrass Lee. Just offering [to] share in the experience.”

Linda posted the story onto Lee’s Facebook page where it received over 1,300 shares.

“When you dine at 42nd Street Oyster Bar please ask for a server by the name of “FIVE” (a college student) He saw me trying to eat and help Lee,” she wrote. “He insisted on helping showing Lee total respect. Let’s me know there are still decent and compassionate people left in our country. Pay it forward for FIVE!”

Hunter Correll, general manager of 42nd St. Oyster Bar, told ABC News: “In regards to the story, Five has been overwhelmed with the attention, as he was just doing what he thought was the right thing to do. We are beyond fortunate to have so many loyal and caring staff members. It makes it so easy to come to work every day, as you can imagine.”

Linda said Lee hopes people can learn how important it is to treat people who have special needs “with respect and kindness, not pity.”

“They are ‘normal’ on the inside,” she said. “[They] have the same feelings we all do.”