Second Saturday Shout-out: Mark Chalifoux
This month’s shout-out goes to Mark Chalifoux, a comedian and writer from Cincinnati, Ohio. However, Mark’s good deed has nothing to do with making an audience chuckle at his jokes, or does it? Back in 2017, Mark was accidentally added to an unknown family’s group text. When a photo of an older lady and her grandson came through to Mark’s phone, he replied, “Looks like he’s having a blast!”
Mark told Insider, “"I didn't want to do just the traditional 'This is the wrong number' and be rude about it that way, so I assumed if I just responded with anything, that would pretty much clarify to them that they shouldn't have included me on this." The family did not get the message though (figuratively), and the texts continued. When someone sent a picture of a young boy playing with a toy car, Mark tried again with "I don't know that I should be part of this, but I'm happy that kid got his car." Their response: "Because you are family" followed by a string of emojis. Message not received.
A couple weeks later, someone in the group sent a photo of a handful of soldiers standing in front of a helicopter and said that one of those soldiers (who was apparently part of said family) was shipping out for six months of deployment. Again, Mark tried to hint to the fact that he should not be in this group message by asking who the solider was, but a member of the family simply answered him and moved on, not picking up the hint. Not long after, another member of the group chat shared information about how to send a care package to the soldier.
This is where Mark shines. "It was going to be something small, obviously, like, 'Hey, your family can't text and here's some stuff! Stay safe wherever you are out there!'" he said. "And then when I mentioned it on Facebook I had a few friends who said, 'We want to chip in a little bit, too.'"
Mark then decided to set up a GoFundMe page to collect donations. Word of this campaign spread quickly. It even made its way to Girl Scouts Troop 4597 in Cincinnati, who then decided to donate boxes of Girl Scout cookies along with cards addressed to the soldier. With the donations and money raised, Mark ended up sending over 40 pounds of cookies to the soldier!
Not sure if the family ever found out that they were texting the wrong person, but Mark deserves some praise for being a pretty cool dude!
Sources:
