Due to the generous action of actor Jon Voight, some medically needy children will have a very a happy Thanksgiving.
Voight, who is the father of Angelina Jolie, most popularly known for his oscar-winning role in the movie Coming Home, and for his career-making portrayal of the male prostitute “Joe Buck” in Midnight Cowboy, which was the only X-rated movie ever to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.
As he was waiting in line at a Kentucky Walmart, Voight saw a woman standing in front of him with shopping cart stuffed with turkeys, CBS News reports.
The woman, Sydney Gholston, reportedly recognized the ageing actor when he struck up a conversation with her about the turkeys, asking if she had a large family.
Gholston, 28, explained that she was buying them for children at Home of the Innocents, a local nonprofit shelter and pediatric convalescent center. That’s all Voight needed to hear. Generously, he insisted on footing the bill for all six turkeys.
Meredith Pack, marketing manager for Home of the Innocent, was elated. “Some medically fragile children do not eat the same Thanksgiving meal and some residents will have other arrangements with family for the holiday,” she said.
On Nov. 18, shortly after receiving the turkey donation, the Home of the Innocents posted a picture on its Facebook page of Gholston and Voight posing together at the Walmart, along with the story of the charitable transaction.
The post has subsequently gone viral, with more than 4,200 shares and 11,000 likes.