Wow, what a story! Isnt it odd how a small thing that you do can make such a difference in someone's life.
I had something similar happen to me. When I was young, I lived on the wrong side of the tracks, we were on food stamps. I ran with a pretty nasty crowd...I was the only one not to be PG before we got out of HS and one of my friends became a hooker with the motorcycle gang The Outlaws.
I was in 7th grade when a teacher pulled me aside and told me that I was the smartest kid in the class and that I could go to college to become a doctor IF I wanted but I would have to quit running with the crowd I was running with. I went home and told my mother that I was going to college to become a Doctor. She told me "I cant even feed you what makes you think I can pay for college. Get that stupid idea out of your head and tell that batty teacher to mind her own business." (Dont think badly of my mother she was just relating her experience.)
Well I thought about what that teacher said late into the night. I know my mother meant well that I shouldnt get my hopes up and I should look at the reality of the situation. My mother was one of twelve and the only one to graduate from HS. NOBODY on my mother's side or in my father's family had ever even attended college no matter received an advanced degree.
Fifteen years later, when I graduated from chiropractic school with my Doctorate, my mother cried and said, You said you were going to do this when you were just a kid. I cant believe you could make it happen by sheer willpower but you did.
Three of my four brothers and sisters have college degrees.
I still volunteer for programming to provide educational resources to disadvantaged women. I will pay this back until the day I die because that one woman took fifteen minutes to talk to some lost kid and that changed my life forever.