'She just started smiling': NC good Samaritan builds free wheelchair ramp for teenager

HIGH POINT, N.C. (WTVD) -- A North Carolina man proved that kindness can come from anywhere, even strangers.

Teenager Almay Belton uses a wheelchair and needed her father's help to get up their front steps every day when she got off her school bus.

"Basically when she gets off the bus she has a little frown on her face, like here we go, back it up, about to go up these steps," Almay's father, Anthony Belton said. "It was kinda hard mostly on her, because basically she's going up and down the steps, so basically constantly bumping and dumping down the steps, and you see her jumping and jumping. Then at the same time, it's hard on me, dealing with my back and I'm getting older, not younger."

Joe Hill, a local businessowner, was driving by when he saw Belton pushing his daughter up the steps and realized the family could use a hand. He stopped his truck and knocked on the Beltons' door--a complete stranger, and made Belton an offer.

"'Would you mind if I come out here and just built you a ramp for nothing?'" Belton recalled Hill saying. "And he kind of got me. I kind of looked at him funny and said, 'Yeah, there's got to be a catch to it. Ain't nothing for nothing."

Monday, Hill's team came to Belton's home and built a ramp--free of charge--for Almay.

"Joy in my heart to see her smile, as soon as the door opened and she got there she just started smiling," Belton said.

Hill said the smile was all the payment he needed.

"The smile did it for me," he said. "And knowing she can do it pretty much by herself, so it's a little more independence for her."

Belton is grateful for Hill's kindness and wishes more people would offer the same kind of help.

"We need to have more Samaritans out here doing the same thing, as far as helping each other, instead of putting each other down," Belton said. "We need to be there for each other. And by him doing that shows you right there, there are people in the world that do have hearts that do care about other people."

Hill said the help of his team and others helped him make the idea a reality.