NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — To kick off their 'random blessings' campaign, The Blessing Wave surprised a 33-year Waffle House worker with an over-sized check Monday.
"What we do is we just meet people where they are, like we did today we just met Chauna where she was and was that blessing that that wave of love that she needed," explained The Blessing Wave Founder Rodney Baldwin.
The Blessing Wave provides services to service workers, teachers, public officials, under-housed and under-served communities on a weekly basis.
"There's always someone that needs to be blessed," Baldwin explained. "There's always someone that is in need of an immediate need. And so that's our goal is to be a wave of love, hope, kindness and compassion."
The non-profit began in 2020 after the tornadoes struck Nashville.
"The [other] founder and myself came together and said, ‘There's got to be something that we can create to help people immediately that can't afford to wait on that typical three to four-week application process,'" Baldwin said. "We help people meet their needs immediately and we don't take application processes. We believe that their story is their application."
Both of the founders experienced homelessness at some point in their life and said they bring a perspective to this work that helps them reach more individuals.
"If I hadn't gone through all that I've gone through, I may not serve with the same compassion and the same heartfelt service that I do now," explained Baldwin. "But because it's personal to me, I can cry with you. I can love on you. I can hug you and I can really feel what you're going through. And I think that I think that shows with who we serve, and that allows the message to continue to go forward."
The surprise at Waffle House Monday was for a woman Baldwin had met six years prior and continued to be in his prayers.
Chauna Scott recounted when she learned about The Blessing Wave over the counter at Waffle House years earlier, "When it was not even big, it was just him wanting to do it. I said, 'You will go far because God is in you.' And here He is."
"We just became friends. We became Facebook friends, she encourages me...I encourage her rather, and we just build that relationship, but I hadn't seen her in about three or four years since she had been relocated. And for some reason, she just came to mind. And I said, ‘You know what, that's who we're going to randomly bless," Baldwin explained.
Her surprise was palpable throughout the restaurant as there were tears of joy and gratitude—a need met that Baldwin said he did not even know the details about but felt called to bless her.
Scott said she hopes others will know what the gift meant to her "and how much it changed—changes that person, the outlook they have on life. There is no describing what just happened. But it was God. I thought I was humble earlier–my whole body is tingling. Because I know he's here right here at this moment."
