‘Nobody Understands How Tired I Am’: Homeless Detroit Mother’s Selfless Gesture Leads to $600,000 Miracle
A homeless woman’s kind gesture to a stranger paid off more than she ever could’ve expected, a new video on social media depicts.
Brienna, 32, was sitting on a Detroit sidewalk with her two children, 5 and 7, when she was approached by a man who asked her how she was doing and if she needed anything.
“Is there anything I can get for you?” the man asks Brienna.
“Anything helps, whatever you can give,” she replies.
“I’m homeless too. I got like 10 bucks. Are these your kids? Where do you guys sleep at night?” He asks.
Brienna tells him she is trying to raise money for a hotel room.
“How much money is it for a hotel room? ” The man asks. “$75,” the mother of three says.
“How much do you have right now?” he asks. Brienna counts $8 in a 7-Eleven cup.
“Will you be here in 30 minutes?” he asks.
What Brienna didn’t know at the time was that the stranger she was speaking to was Zachery Dereniowski, a social media influencer and mental health advocate known for his “giveback” content. He posted the video on his Instagram page, MDMotivator, on Monday.
When Dereniowski returns, he brings pizza and soda for Brienna and the children, and despite her circumstances, she offers to share it with him. She tells Dereniowski that she has been homeless for two years and ended up the streets due to an abusive relationship. Her parents passed away so she has nowhere to turn. The mother even offers Dereniowski one of her blankets before he reveals his true intentions.
“What’s your dream for your kids?” Dereniowski asks.
“Work and just to keep us all together, I don’t drink. I don’t go to clubs, bars, or none of that. So it’s like being with my kids is more than anything,” Brienna says.
In a shocking move, Dereniowski then hands Brienna $1,000, enough to secure a hotel for almost two weeks. The single mother breaks down in tears as Dereniowski embraces her.
“Nobody understands how tired I am,” Brienna says as she weeps. “I am so tired of being homeless. It’s so hard. It’s so overwhelming every day. They shouldn’t have to suffer going through this. It’s not right.”
“That cry she let out was from her soul,” one viewer wrote. “Had me dropping tears when she started crying, bruh,” another viewer wrote. “Reminded me of my mom when we got evicted when I was a kid! Not the same situation but that cry of pain and relief all in one will open your eyes for sure!”
Dereniowski also exchanges phone numbers with Brienna in case he’s able to find her a job. He took a step further and created a crowdfunding account for her, which, as of Monday evening, has accumulated over $614,000, enough to buy Brienna and her family a new home and to change their lives.
“We met Brienna last year downtown Detroit and sat and talked to hear until the early hours of the morning on the cement,” one viewer wrote. “This woman deserves every cent in this go fund me and I have thought about her every day since last fall. Every time I’m downtown I look for her and I haven’t seen her since. I can’t stop with the happy tears for her. Her kids were so sweet and smart! We were playing action figures with them and they just kept hugging saying thank you for playing with us.”