rachel henderson with our kansas city affiliate brings us that story. >> reporter: that's sound of freehat's for sure. >> reporter: mackie allen was one of the parents at the book fair planning to buy a book for her kids all of a sudden the stranger stepped in >> he wouldn't let me pay for anything he staid was all free. >> reporter: that mystery man with tattoos tattoos antiid tee stepped in he reached out to his boss with an idea, not an update >> i tiexted my owner i thim, and i thought it would be awesome. he was like, absolutely. >> reporter: he ended up paying more than $8,000 for books and items, something maggie and her son were grateful for. >> i'm an server, so money is tight. >> some of the family were going through, we were just here for doughnuts. this was like, if we go to the book fair, there's no christmas. >> reporter: he was reminded what it was like for his family. >> it was the same thing we can't do this we can't do this >> reporter: years later, he finally changed the narrative. >> just to see kids get excited about books was huge >> our thanks to rachel henderson