Our next guest is sitting in the audience right now.
He has no idea I'm about to call him down.
Here's a sweet video that he sent me.
Hey, Ellen.
How you doing?
My name is Larry, or you can call me Lawrence,
but that's how they call me at work.
I'm a CNA.
I work with old people.
I love working with them.
And I wish to-- to see you, because I love you.
You're very kind.
You're loving.
I love what to do.
I love how you surprise people.
I love how you give people chances.
And I love you, because of the nicest person I've ever met.
And you're my role model.
I love you so much, Ellen DeGeneres.
Love you.
[CHEERING]
Lawrence!
Come here!
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[INAUDIBLE]
Hi.
Lawrence, I love that you said I'm the nicest person you've
ever met.
We've never met.
Just--
I met you on the internet.
I see.
OK.
Hi.
Surprise.
You said you like when I surprise people,
so I thought I'd surprise you.
Oh my god.
Isn't this great?
Isn't this fun?
I don't know what to say.
Well, I'll ask questions, and then you can answer me.
You're for real though?
I am for real.
Yes.
Today, it is me.
Sometimes, it's a hologram.
But right now--
[LAUGHTER]
So you live in New Jersey.
I do.
But you grew up in Kenya.
Yeah, I grew up in Kenya.
Then after I finished high school,
I won a lottery to get a Green Card to come to the United
States to be a permanent resident.
OK.
So how old were you then?
I was 19.
19.
So you come from Kenya to New Jersey.
Yes.
And you did it all by yourself.
All by myself.
Was that scary and culture shock?
Very.
What was the biggest--
what was the most surprising thing here?
Well, first thing, I'm from Africa.
I have an accent, of course.
Then I'm black, so-- and I lived in this neighborhood, you know.
People called me names.
My accent was a thing.
You know, but I just not to listen to negativity.
But to watch in, you know through your positive energy,
I accepted who I am.
I'm sorry, I cannot talk.
No, that's fine.
But that's a beautiful message to accept who you are
and be proud of who you are, no matter
what people say about you.
Yes.
And that's horrible that you went through that coming here.
And people--
I did.
I even wanted to go back home.
Yeah, I'm sure, if people are calling you names and making
fun of your accent.
Yes.
So you wanted to be--
you're a nurse's assistant.
Yes, I am.
And that's what you wanted to be all the time?
No.
I always wanted to be in the health care field.
I wanted to be a nurse so bad.
But I didn't have the money to go to college,
because I'm paying for my sister, my brother.
So the--
Wait, wait.
Slow down, because this is why I wanted to talk to you.
So you're working 16 hour shifts.
Yes, I do.
OK.
And you're working that hard to send money
to your sister and your brother so they can get an education?
Yes.
So I sacrificed me going to college to have them--
my sister's in college right now,
and my brother is in high school.
And I pay for all of that.
[CHEERING]
Yep.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ellen.
See, that's why I wanted to talk to you.
And you-- so you got--
there's a kindness award at where you work, right?
Yes.
My residents, when they leave our facility,
they always have to fill out this card on how they
their stay was in the facility.
And I think I'm lucky, or I've been fortunate enough
to get good recommendations from my residents.
So I think three months ago, I was employee of the month.
I got a t-shirt, and I got a special hoodie that--
I'm the only one who has it on my floor.
Oh, that's great.
Because you're so kind.
I try.
Yeah.
All right.
And you got accepted to college?
Yes, I did.
That's fantastic.
That's great news.
[CHEERING]
Thank you.
Yes I did.
All right.
Well, you're going to need a few things when you go to college.
So we have a basket of things to give you.
Andy.
Um, all right.
All right.
So there's-- see, we have a computer.
We have headphones, so you don't bother anybody.
We have Ellen socks and an Ellen t-shirt with--
we have notebooks, so you can--
you have that.
You have a sweatshirt.
What else do we have in here?
Oh.
Oh, that's right, $25,000.
No.
[CHEERING]
No.
Can I hug you?
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
$25,000.
That'll pay for college.
We, um--
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
We have had an amazing partnership
with Cheerios for two years, where they reward people
for doing acts of good.
They were so encouraged by the good that you're doing,
they want to give you $25,000.
I want to hear about your acts of good, so go to my website,
tell me what you're doing, and maybe you'll be standing here
and Cheerios will give you some money.
We'll be right back.