(Newser) – Chris Wright was driving to church in Georgia in 2014 when he spotted TunDe Hector walking in the rain carrying a jerrycan. She'd run out of gas with $5 in her pocket. The Good Samaritan tells ABC News he offered her a lift to a gas station and back, and "then the Lord said, 'Whatever you have in your pocket, just give it to her. She needs that.'" He gave her the $40 he had on him, noting she cried at this act of kindness, which would end up changing both of their lives. In June, Hector was working as a nurse's aide when she recounted the story to the family of the terminally ill woman she was caring for. "That was me," a stunned Chris Wright told her, per CBS News. Neither family could believe it, but they also didn't think the meeting was random. "We don't believe in coincidence," says Carmen Wright, Chris' wife. "We're a family of faith."

The Wrights knew about Hector's desire to attend nursing school, and so as a thank you for taking such good care of Chris' mother, Judy Wright, in her last days—she died July 9—they decided to help Hector achieve her dream. Their crowdfunding page had collected nearly $34,000 for Hector as of Monday, far surpassing their original $1,000 goal. The Wrights posted a video of Hector's reaction when they told her: "Oh Lord have mercy. Lord, you're so good to me. … You're kidding me." (The Facebook clip has racked up 1.2 million views.) "I don't know why God chose our two families," Carmen Wright tells CBS. "But she's family. It's like she's known us forever." (A Good Samaritan who lost both legs got a precious gift.)

