Editor’s Note: Reader’s Digest held a nationwide contest to identify the Nicest Places in America—for which Good News Network was a judge. Meet the rest of the finalists here.
Just a few days before Christmas 2017, dozens gathered at the Nativity scene at the First Baptist Church in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, to march to nearby Market Square to hold a rally and a vigil to “welcome the stranger,” a Christian call to treat friends, neighbors, strangers and even enemies with love and compassion.
One of the people there was Yassin Terou, a refugee who came to Knoxville in 2011 and has since become a beloved local celebrity.
But not beloved by all.
A man in the crowd draped in an American flag was yelling at anyone who would listen that immigrants were preventing him from getting a job. When it was Terou’s turn to speak at the rally, he invited the man up on stage so they could hold the flag high together. When the man refused, Terou went into the crowd to find him so he could introduce himself and offer to buy him dinner so they could talk.
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He also offered the man a job.
That’s because Terou is the owner and operator of Yassin’s Falafel House, which employs 30 people and has been open for the past four years.
“I always do that,” Terou told Reader’s Digest, “I always invite anyone who hates us to the store. I want them to know us more. When you break bread, you break hate.”
READ the full story at Reader’s Digest or WATCH the Good Morning America video below…
Pass On This Positive Tidbit To Your Friends On Social Media – Photo by Amanda Friedman for Reader’s Digest
I saw this on television and loved it. There should be more people offering to let everyone know them. Thanks for a terrific place!