Waffle House Hero James Shaw Jr. Meets His Hero, Dwayne Wade
Ellen DeGeneres also gifted Shaw with a total GoFundMe donation of $225,000 to go toward his and his daughter's lives.
After sacrificing his own safety to save the lives of so many other innocent customers at a Waffle House weeks ago, James Shaw Jr. has become a household name for his heroic act.
Ellen DeGeneres was one of the many inspired by Shaw’s courage, so she invited him onto The Ellen DeGeneres Show to detail out what happened on that horrific night and how he gained the strength to defend himself and others during the mass shooting at a Waffle House in Antioch, Tennessee. What started as a normal night out with his friend resulted in Shaw jumping to stop the bullets from coming and saving the day for others present at the establishment.
Amazed by his brave efforts, DeGeneres asked how Shaw even worked up the nerve to stop the shooter from continuing on his rampage and he spread the message that he hopes anyone would have stood up to the killer in that moment. Not knowing how to accept the term of ‘hero’ from everyone around him, Shaw encouraged the crowd to follow their fire within them during times of crisis like that one.
“So the whole hero thing is, I don’t have a problem with it. It’s just that if you’re in that same situation, I want you to know that a regular guy did it and I want you to emulate that same thing and know you had that fire inside yourself,” he explained.
Shaw even started a GoFundMe page for the victims’ families to raise money for their funerals, and earned hundreds of thousands of dollars for them in their time of need. A journalist followed the same initiative and started one for Shaw and his daughter, which resulted in a total of $225,000 after DeGeneres and Shutterfly donated $20,000 to the cause.
Not only did Shaw make his and his daughter’s dreams become a reality through the GoFundMe account, but DeGeneres also arranged for the Waffle House Hero to meet his NBA idol, Dwayne Wade. As a father himself, Wade said he will tell his kids about Shaw and the heroism he put out into the word while rewarding Shaw with another check for $20,000. But for Shaw, the moment altogether was priceless.
Those interested in donating even more in the cause of the Waffle House Shooting can head to the ‘I Believe in Nashville’ website to check out their Heroism Campaign benefiting the victims and Shaw.
