A typo on Facebook ended up changing the course of one homeless woman’s life forever in the most miraculous way.
Amy Rickel, of Appleton, Wisconsin, was homeless and unemployed with three children, one of whom was 4-years-old. Down on her luck, the holidays were approaching and Rickel had a broken-down car, WPXI reports.
She tried to reach out to a friend on Facebook for warmth and prayers.
After sending a Facebook private message opening up about her troubles, she soon realized she accidentally sent the message to a stranger with a similar name to that of her friend.
But that mistake would end up turning into one of the biggest miracles of her life.
Apologizing for the error, Rickel meant to move on with her life, but the stranger Brian Van Boxtel had a different idea.
“He was like, ‘Nope!'” said Rickel. “God puts us in people’s lives for a reason.”
Boxtel told her he would come and pay for her hotel.
That was just the beginning of his help.
Suddenly, he had an idea: He persuaded Rickel to start a GoFundMe crowd funding account.
“We have been staying at a hotel we can no longer afford and all of the shelters that accept kids have long waiting lists,” wrote Rickel. “My only concern at this point is making sure my kids are safe and warm!”
Her GoFundMe story soon caught the attention of many who were touched by her troubles and wanted to help.
“We just felt like this holiday season we couldn’t let the kids be out in the cold and we cleared out a room and brought them home,” said Kathy Schumann, who also loaned her minivan to Rickel.
Chad Morack also felt compelled to help. When he found out Rickel was a licensed practical nurse, he reached out to his network.
Alexandria Witkowski, senior recruiter at TotalMed, took one look at Rickel’s credentials and was impressed.
“I couldn’t help but continue working really hard to get her references and resume over to our clients so we could get her a full-time position,” said Witkowski.
One thing led to another, and soon — because of the kindness of complete strangers — Rickel found herself with a job offer nine days after her Facebook typo.
“It’s totally restored my faith in more than just humanity, my faith in God,” said a grateful Rickel.
