CE King HS students lend hand unprompted to 70-year-old with fallen tree: 'Why wouldn't I help?'

An older northeast Harris County man wants to ensure nine young men are rewarded after they stopped to help him haul away storm debris unprompted.

Albert Benoit, a 70-year-old heart attack survivor, said he fully expected to spend Monday hauling away the debris by himself.

But as he was dragging tree branches out to the corner, he said six students stopped on their way home from C.E. King High School and asked him if he'd like them to help.

"He was out here by himself. It looked like he needed help, and, so we just got out here and started working," 14-year-old Kardarion Estes said.

They spent that first day chopping up the massive tree that had fallen across most of Benoit's backyard.

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For their troubles, Benoit rewarded them with $20 each.

Half the original group returned Tuesday to finish the job and brought three more boys along.

"It's the right thing to do. Why wouldn't I help him?" 15-year-old James Ross said.

"There are a few bad kids. Everybody's got them, and they seem to stand out. But you got more good kids than you do bad kids," Benoit said.

"I was sweating, but I was crying. Because it meant that much," Benoit said, adding that he asked the youngsters to return Wednesday so they could be rewarded once more.

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