In the small town of Geraldine, Alabama, farmer Hody Childress was a man known for his humility and kindness.
But not many people knew the full extent of his generosity.
That is, until he died on January 1, 2023. It was then that neighbors learned that Air Force veteran Childress had been secretly paying pharmacy bills for people who couldn’t afford the expense of their prescriptions.
“Everyone knew him, but Hody wasn’t one to come in and want everyone to know he was there,” Brooke Walker, pharmacist and co-owner of Geraldine Drugs, told Fox News Digital.
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“He would make peanut brittle for my staff and hand it over,” Walker said.
“Or he’d bring us tomatoes or apples from his tree and say, ‘Hey, I was just thinking about you guys.’ This is a small town – and we’re like each other’s families.”
Hody Childress from Geraldine, Alabama poses in a suit and tie.
(Ashley Sargent Photography)
One day about 10 years ago, Childress brought something other than food to Geraldine Drugs: a folded $100 bill.
Walker said Childress asked her to use the money to help anyone in town who couldn’t pay for the medicine they needed – and he asked her not to tell a soul.
For a decade, Childress Walker delivered $100 on the first of every month.
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“When he first approached me, I thought it would be a one-time thing and I never expected it to go on and on,” Walker said.
Hody Childress (centre) is photographed with his daughter Tania Nix (left) and her husband Ronald Nix (right).
(Tania Nix)
“He just gave it to me very quietly,” Walker added.
“People could be there [the drugstore] and didn’t realize what he had done because he just pushed it towards me, folded up where you couldn’t even really see what it was. The best thing about Hody is that he didn’t want credit.”
The community’s need for help is great, Walker said.
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“There have been situations where someone’s child was sick and they had to wait until Friday to get the drug or didn’t get it at all,” Walker said.
Walker said she also helped elderly patients with heart problems who didn’t have insurance policies and a mother who had insurance but still couldn’t afford the EpiPen her child desperately needed.
In all of these situations, she was able to help thanks to the generosity of Hody Childress.
Shown here is the storefront (left) and interior of Geraldine Drugs in Geraldine, Alabama, where Hody Childress donated $100 a month to help pay other customers’ pharmacy bills.
(Geraldine Drugs)
Walker estimates that Childress contributed about $10,000 to help pay other people’s pharmacy bills.
“Sometimes I felt like, ‘Oh my god, that’s a lot of pressure,'” Walker said.
“But I tried to pay attention when someone came in and asked for a price for their medication – and then I could just tell by the way they were responding that it was going to be difficult for them,” she added . “Or sometimes they would even say, ‘OK, I won’t be able to get this today, but maybe I can come back on Friday if I get paid.'”
Walked added, “I would just try to reach out to the people who needed it.”
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Walker said that Childress has never missed a month’s contributions and that the fund has helped grow it.
“The best thing about Hody is that he didn’t want credit.”
But Childress suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) — and in the final months of his life he couldn’t leave his house to make his $100 delivery to the pharmacy.
So he confided in his daughter Tania Nix and leaned on her for help.
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“It got to the point where he couldn’t leave the house, so I stayed with him and went to the grocery store and ran errands for him,” said Nix, a barber in nearby Ider, Alabama.
Four generations of a family: Hody Childress (centre) poses with his daughter Tania Nix (right), grandson Eric Hody Nix (left) and great-grandson Bryson Nix (centre, held by Hody Childress) in 2022.
(Tania Nix)
“One day he said to me, ‘I’ve been doing something for a while and I’d like to do it as long as I live.'”
Childress told his daughter about his private mission and asked her to bring Walker the usual $100 to the pharmacy — and not tell anyone.
“He said to me, ‘I’m giving Brooke the freedom to choose how she spends the money to help someone and just to tell them it’s a gift from the Lord,'” Nix said.
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After Childress died and Nix prepared for her father’s ministry, she decided that people should know of his kindness.
“I had no Idea [of] the depth of the story or the magnitude. I had no idea it was almost 10 years. He never mentioned that to us.”
So a family member reached out to Walker — and that opened the door to share his story, Nix said.
“I had to make a decision about whether or not I was going to reveal this secret,” Walker said. “And that turned out to be.”
Nix said she and Walker compared notes about her father’s gift, how many people he helped and how long his act of generosity and thoughtfulness has lasted.
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“I was amazed,” said Nix.
“I had no Idea [of] the depth of the story or the magnitude. I had no idea it was almost 10 years. He never mentioned that to us.”
Hody Childress with his wife Martha Jo Childress. Hody Childress died on Sunday January 1st, 2023 at the age of 80. He is survived by his wife, two children, three stepchildren, 15 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren.
(Ashley Sargent Photography)
And that’s exactly how Childress wanted it.
“I heard someone say that the Hody way is to give and not tell anyone,” Walker said.
“I just found it amazing to be able to take care of someone you’ve never met or know and to be able to give them something and get nothing in return, not even a thank you,” she said. “All he needed was to know in his heart that he did the right thing. That he cared about someone. And I think that’s spreading across the nation.”
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Walker said she’s had calls from people across the country who want the Hody Childress fund to continue.
Geraldine Drugs co-owner Brooke Walker (second left) poses with her family for Christmas. For a full decade, Walker helped Hody Childress, a veteran, use his own money to help neighbors pay their pharmacy bills. Childress didn’t want anyone to know about it.
(Ashley Sargent Photography)
“I spoke to a gentleman from Washington State last night and he wanted to give me a year’s worth of donations on Hody’s behalf,” Walker said.
“He’s from Washington and we’re in Alabama. Nobody will know him. He won’t know who benefited – but at heart he loves people and wants to help everyone continue Hody’s legacy,” she added.
Walker said someone else called from Miami to ask if he could contribute.
“There is still good in the world.”
When she told this person that she had received a lot of calls, he replied, “If this fund ever goes to zero, I want you to call me. But if you don’t care, I’ll just go to my local pharmacy and start my own Hody Childress fund.”
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“In our town, we love each other and we care for each other,” Walker said, “and there are people here who need help and Hody has taken care of them.”
Hody Childress asked his daughter, Tania Nix, to continue his charitable tradition of delivering a $100 bill to the local drugstore once a month to help neighbors in need. Childress did this for a decade.
(Ashley Sargent Photography/Geraldine Drugs)
“But there are people across America who need help,” she added.
“If everyone hears their story and thinks, ‘Let me go to my pharmacy or think about how I can help someone in my town,’ it could just be contagious.”
Nix said she hoped it would work.
“I would love it if it was a ripple effect,” Nix said.
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“There’s still good in the world,” Nix added.
“There are people who want to reach out to complete strangers and help them — just give them that hope and that feeling of being loved.”