SPOKANE, Wash. – They met by chance, on what Rick Clark called the worst day of his life. 

Two men, both down on their luck, were waiting at the STA Plaza, in downtown Spokane. 

Clark was 44-years-old at the time. He had a ninth grade education and about eight dollars to his name. He was waiting to catch a bus to go register for community college. 

That’s when he met Jared. 

He was sitting in the plaza, shoeless, in March. 

“For the first time in my life, I put away my stuff that I was dealing with and I turned to somebody else and I asked him if he was hungry and he said he was starving,” Clark said. 

Jared told Clark that thieves stole everything he had when they made off with his backpack. Clark promised to come back to the plaza with a backpack with food and other supplies for his new friend. 

He posted about the encounter on Facebook that night. 

Support came in the form of 401 comments, 816 shares, and many donations. 

“In 24 hours, we filled 25 backpacks full of toiletries and socks and food and gift cards and it was just amazing,” Clark said. 

Jared got a new backpack and so did 24 other homeless people in Spokane.