Veteran Pays Electric Bills for Strangers to Honor Wife

Man offers to pay strangers' electric bills

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Not the first time something like this happened.
Former Homeless Vet Pays Community Members' Power Bills for Holidays
STOCKBRIDGE, Ga., Dec. 6, 2012
By BETH LOYD
Producer
via GOOD MORNING AMERICA

A year ago, Curtis Butler, III was homeless and sleeping in his car. He attempted suicide twice. This week, he is giving money to those less fortunate.

Butler, 45, is a two-tour veteran of the Iraq war who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. When he returned home with his disability, he was initially denied benefits and he fell on hard times. He lost contact with his children. He had no home, no money and no hope. Twice, he overdosed on pills and alcohol.

"I figured nobody cared about me," Butler told ABC News. "I had to worry about paying bills. I didn't love myself or anyone else."

But Butler finally did get his benefits and turned his life around. On Monday, he made the holidays a little bit easier for two dozen strangers. Butler was standing in line at a Georgia Power office waiting to pay his utility bill. He heard another customer talking about how difficult it had been to make ends meet. He paid that couple's $230 bill and then kept going. When he was finished, he had doled out $2,000 to pay power bills for 20 people.

"This was the anniversary of me being homeless and now I am putting smiles on other people's faces," Butler told ABC News.
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