GREAT FALLS – If you’ve been on Facebook lately, you may have seen a post about a young man helping out a family in Lewistown. The man essentially did the job for free, only asking for a full tank of gas in return for fixing their car.
Andrew C. Jewell recently became the center of a Facebook post, thanking him for a job well done, but he doesn’t take all the credit.
“I just felt like the Lord was putting this on me, on my heart and on my being to go and help these folks,” said Jewell.
The now viral post has been shared over 30,000 times, but he says he just did what he was called to do.
“I didn’t have anyone to help me back then. I knew how much easier it would’ve been if I would have had someone to help me out and every time I get a chance to help someone, I try to.”
In 2014, he was featured in a documentary, Rich Hill, about three young boys growing up in poverty.
“In no way, shape, or form do I hope to become famous from that or this. I don’t wish for fame, I just wish to be recognized as a good person, and as long as I can help others through inspiration and motivation, that’s what I’m looking for with that. I mean, I’m nowhere near perfect.”
Eventually, he hopes to live out his dream of becoming a minister.
“Every time that I talk to somebody that needs help, it’s as if the words just flow. I don’t have to stop and think about what I’m going to say to help someone out, I don’t have to ponder on exactly what advice I need to give them to help them in their situation because I believe that the Lord put that knowledge or that know-how into my brain and just allows it to come out fluently.”
Reporting by Kaley Collins for MTN News
A woman in Colorado who goes by the name of “Bag Lady Sue” was touched by the story. Sue, a comedian and entertainer, talked with Andrew’s mother and created a GoFundMe account so that people can donate to Andrew.
The GoFundMe page created by Sue states: “This morning this young man’s story crossed my desk. I don’t know him or his family, but I had to do something back for such great folks, so I made them a page. ALL money goes to the boy. xo Bag Lady Sue.”
On her personal Facebook page, Sue wrote: “I wrote his mom and she told me he is a good, hard working, christian, young man who never asks for anything and is struggling to pay off school and tools he bought to start his own biz…. Let’s help! All money goes directly to them. Thanks all. God Bless!”
If you would like to help Andrew, click here to visit the GoFundMe page.
The Johnstons needed help with the transmission in their car because we had no other way to get to Seattle Children’s Hospital for emergency surgery for their unborn child. They had a small budget and needed someone willing to work with them on payments and overall cost, knowing it’s “a hard and expensive job, we didn’t see how we were going to figure this out.”
They said in a Facebook post: “We called almost every local auto shop in the area with absolutely no luck. They either didn’t do transmissions or were unwilling to do payments. We waited all night hoping for somebody to comment knowing it may not happen and I may have to fly over alone without my son who also has severe medical needs and needs my assistance and without my husband for support.
They then received a message from Charlie Matovich Eike saying that her son Andrew may be able to help. Andrew called the family and said he was willing to fix the transmission, and “all he asked was for us to pay his gas!”
They wrote: “Let me remind you the shops I called asked for $800 to $1500 or more for the same job this young guy was offering for a whole $70. We were in shock and so amazed as we had never met him and only met Charlie once through the same local facebook group! He talked to us a while and explained that he would fix what needed done with the transmission. He then said he would be here around 12pm since he was coming all the way from GREAT FALLS! THATS A 2 HOUR DRIVE! We felt this overwhelming amount of emotions and had no way to thank him enough. He kept his promise and was there by noon and almost immediately began going to work on it.”
She continued, “As he began he realized just how much needed work and instead of just doing what he said he began to fix it ALL he rotated our tires, fixed our air conditioner, put in our new transmission and much more! He worked hard long hours for THREE DAYS to fix our vehicle so we could get to Seattle safe! This 20 year old who had just graduated college and had just worked over a week straight with 15 hour days on fencing in the hot sun, then took his only three days off to come and fix a family’s vehicle he didnt even know! He was so kind so smart and so incredibly helpful to us in our time of need! He was our blessing! What he did we could never thank him enough or repay him.”
Unfortunately, the trip to Seattle ended on a tragic note, with the family sharing the following message: “We dont really no what to say or how to explain our feelings at this time! Tomorrow we go in and get admitted to deliver our son at only 20 weeks and say our goodbyes… We never thought this would happen to us and cant imagine what each individual parent goes through with this.. We love our son so much and want nothing more than to bring home his ashes and have a gathering for him for his cremation and gathering… God bless you all and please be patient as we are not going to be answering to many messages today.”
Despite the sad news, news of Andrew’s kindness spread quickly on social media, with thousands of people liking, sharing, and commenting, and many wondering how they could show their gratitude to Andrew.
On Thursday, a woman in Golden, Colorado, provided the answer.
