Man Sues Orphanage After Volunteering, Gets It Shut Down for Unexpected Reason
A man on Reddit explained why he decided to sue an orphanage after volunteering there.
"I really need to know if I’m the bad guy here. A few months ago, I was asked by a friend to volunteer at a local orphanage. They were understaffed, and I figured, why not? I like kids (most of the time), and it seemed like a good way to give back. So I went over to help out for a few weekends, playing with the kids, helping with meals, etc," the man began.
"Now, here’s where things started going downhill. One day, they had this big outdoor play session, and I was supervising. The kids were running around, being kids, and this one little boy (let's call him Timmy) was running full speed and tripped... straight into my knee. It was bad. Like, I heard a pop, and I immediately fell over. Turns out, I tore my ACL," he continued.
The man had to go to the hospital for surgery and is now in physical therapy.
"The medical bills? Outrageous ... Anyway, I reached out to the orphanage to cover some of my expenses because, technically, it happened on their property during my volunteer shift. They basically shrugged me off and said they didn’t have the funds to help," he shared, adding he had no choice but to get a lawyer involved.
"Long story short, I ended up suing them. It wasn’t a crazy lawsuit, just enough to cover my medical bills and time off work. But apparently, the orphanage was already struggling financially, and after losing the case, they couldn’t afford to keep their doors open. They shut down about a month ago," he revealed.
"Here’s where I’m starting to feel conflicted. People in the community found out that I was the one who sued, and now they’re saying I’m responsible for putting a bunch of kids out on the streets. I didn’t think it would come to that—I just wanted my medical bills covered. It’s not like I asked for millions, just enough to get by! But now everyone’s acting like I’m the villain because the orphanage had to close down, and these kids got moved to other facilities. I feel bad that the place closed, but at the same time, I got injured pretty badly and had no way to pay for it," he concluded his post.
READ MORE: Man Cuts off Parents After They Refuse to Help With Son's Bills
Users in the comments section mostly sided with the man.
"You suffered a serious injury that incurred significant costs through no fault of your own. It's reasonable to seek compensation, especially when the incident occurred during your volunteer work for the organization," one user commented.
"If they didn't have the money to cover your injury, they wouldn't have had the money in the event one of the kids had an emergency they needed to go to the hospital for. Blame the government for not adequately funding their social services," another wrote.
"I get it—you were trying to seek justice for your injury. But it’s heartbreaking that it resulted in kids losing their safe space. Maybe there could’ve been another way to handle it? It’s a tough spot to be in," someone else chimed in.
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