Gasoline goodwill: Orange County man pays for strangers' gas
After running out of gas twice in the past couple of weeks, Bob Morgan rolled into the Shell gas station in Rancho Santa Margarita Tuesday on fumes hoping for some help.
Luckily, before running out of gas for the third time Morgan found a Facebook post from a man offering to give out free gas.
"I just happened to come across his post," said Morgan. "I was like I ran out of gas two days in a row — literally the car stalled. This was perfect."
The man behind the post, Orange County resident and Texas transplant Ray Walter, wanted to give the gift of gas to those struggling to fill up with sky-high prices.
"We're not handing out cash," he said. "We'll fill up your tank and of course, the offer was one person per week. I'm not sure how that's going to work but we're just taking it instead of one day at a time — almost one hour at a time because the response has been overwhelming."
While he aimed to help one person a week, that goal was quickly surpassed by lunchtime.
"He filled up my gas tank completely, $100," said driver Kaylee Goodwin.
In just a few hours, he helped top off five gas tanks totaling nearly $500.
"If someone could extend the help for gasoline it's just like paying a bill or putting food on the table at the same time," said Rancho Santa Margarita resident Wendall Frazier.
Many have seen Walter's act of kindness and decided to help, sending him money to fill up more tanks.
"We're just one family," said Walter. "We can only do so much but we want to help those that we can help."
