Boy who gave his only dollar to man he mistook as homeless gets reward from businessman

BATON ROUGE, La. (WKRC) - A boy who gave his only dollar to a man he mistook as homeless got a reward from a businessman, who is behind several multi-million dollar companies.

According to CBS News, 42-year-old Matt Busbice and his partners have built and sold multiple outdoor companies that are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Per the network, Busbice, who owns sporting goods store BuckFeather in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said the gift of $1 from nine-year-old Kelvin Ellis Jr. made him feel richer than he's ever been.

"I haven't had that much faith in humanity in a very long time," Busbice told CBS.

Busbice told the network that one morning in April, he woke to the sound of a fire alarm in his condo complex. He explained to CBS that he leapt out of bed and hurried downstairs, but discovered there was no fire. Although he was disheveled and in mismatched clothes, Busbice decided to head out for a cup of coffee, per the network.

According to CBS, before entering the coffee shop, Busbice realized that he hadn't said his morning prayer, and so he stepped to the corner of the patio to pray.

"And I started to slowly open my eyes, and there's a kid coming at me, about my height," Busbice told CBS.

Ellis had reached out a clenched and opened his hand to reveal a single dollar bill.

"And I go, 'What?'" Busbice told CBS' reporters.

"'If you're homeless, here's a dollar,'" nine-year-old Kelvin Ellis recalled telling the man, per CBS. "I always wanted to help a homeless person, and I finally had the opportunity."

Ellis had received his dollar for getting good grades and it had been the only money he had, according to CBS, which reported that Busbice was so touched by the gesture, he decided to return the favor.

Per CBS, Busbice invited Ellis in for a snack at the coffee house, then connected with the boy's father, who was next door, going on to promise to keep in touch.

Ellis was later treated to a 40-second shopping spree as a reward for his selflessness, per the network. The nine-year-old was allowed to pick out whatever he wanted from the BuckFeather store, which included a brand-new bike, according to the network.

Ellis told CBS that it was a great experience, but said it was definitely not what he wanted to get out of his dollar.

"Joy, because I helped someone. Give something away, and you feel like you've got a lot of things from it," Ellis told CBS.

"If you give, you're actually going to get more out of that," Busbice told the network. "I couldn't grasp that as a kid. And if we can spread that around, everything changes."

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