CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- A utility worker for Chesterfield County on a never-ending mission of kindness is inspiring others and changing lives.
When Calvin Godette is not fixing leaky watermains, he is doing good deeds for folks he runs into in the community.
Whether it is buying coffee for the next car or groceries for a random shopper. Godette gives away about half his income to total strangers.
In return, he is sometimes lucky to get a thank you. But he remains undaunted.
"You don't never know. You could do something for somebody, or talk to someone, and you could change their whole situation," Godette explained.
He said that happened a few months ago when he was waiting in a Burger King drive-thru. When Godette looked in his rearview mirror, he saw a woman who just seemed sad.
So Godette paid for her meal. But this time his random act of kindness would not soon be forgotten.
"Somebody to do something that nice for you — on that very moment when I thought nothing could make me happy again," Denise Walters recalled. "It just touched my heart."
That is because Walters had just lost her husband of 41 years. She said Godette's kindness was exactly what she needed at exactly the right time.
In fact, it had such a profound effect that she chased him down, told his boss and got him recognized before the county's board of supervisors.
Since then, the pair have stayed in touch and grown their circle. In fact, Walters has met his colleagues.
"I told her, I said, 'You may have lost a husband, but you gained a family,'" Godette recalled.
Walters called her new friend "an amazing man" who is also her role model.
Now she is doing good deeds and feels as if she too is on a mission.
"Oh, absolutely. If he can do this, I can do this," Walters said. "He has shown me the way."
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