Homeless vet gave last $20 to help a stranded driver. Now he has 'a second chance at life'

A homeless veteran wasn't expecting anything when he gave his last $20 to a woman who ran out of gas in Philadelphia.

But thanks to nearly 14,000 donors, 34-year-old Johnny Bobbitt Jr.'s generosity has changed his life forever.

The stranded driver, Kate McClure, raised more than $390,000 for her hero – enough to buy him a home, his dream car and more.

"It’s all happened so fast. I’m happy I’m just getting a second chance at life," Bobbitt told BBC Radio.

What happened?

The 27-year-old's car ran out of gas along a Philadelphia freeway while she was on her way to visit a friend. An unlikely hero came to her rescue.

"Johnny sits on the side of the road every day, holding a sign. He saw me pull over and knew something was wrong," she wrote on GoFundMe. "He told me to get back in the car and lock the doors."

He came back with a red gas can that he had filled with his last $20, she wrote.

McClure returned with her boyfriend Mark D'Amico to visit Bobbitt and to pay him back with money, food, warm clothing and more.

However, something made the couple want to do more. They set up an online fundraiser for him, and donations from around the world poured in.

The North Carolina native served in the U.S. Marine Corps and worked as a paramedic and firefighter, according to his personal Facebook page.

He told BBC Radio that "bad decisions and bad situations" led him to homelessness.

"Y'all did all that! That's awesome!" Bobbitt exclaimed in a video McClure posted to Twitter shortly after he learned about the campaign.

How will the money be used?

McClure said on the GoFundMe page that she set Bobbitt up with an attorney and financial adviser "in order to give Johnny the means to acclimate back into a ‘normal’ life and also to protect him."

Two trust funds and a bank account are being set up, McClure said. One account will allow him to collect a small salary each month, while the other will be invested as a retirement fund.

"So when the time comes, he can live his retirement dream of owning a piece of land and a cabin in the country," McClure wrote on GoFundMe.

Bobbitt also plans to donate some of the money to organizations and people that helped him through the "rough patch in his life" the past couple years.

"It’s like winning the lottery," Bobbitt told Good Morning America.

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