A Hempstead pastor’s acts of kindness have helped to fill the shopping carts — and hearts — of hundreds of community members.

Donnie Baker, a pastor at Redeem Tabernacle Church in Hempstead, has been using his own savings to purchase $2,500 worth of groceries every three months for random residents outside of the nearby CTown Supermarket. He limits each customer to $50 or less so he can help as many as possible and pays for the items no questions asked, he said.

Baker, 69, said he began buying the groceries about three years ago after he witnessed a woman who didn’t have enough money for her items once she got to the cash register. He credits his desire to help those in need with having grown up in a low-income family.

“I don’t want people to go through what I went through; I want them

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