He volunteered at a food bank. What he saw surprised him.

When Michael Jensen started volunteering at a food bank in Port Townsend, Washington, this past April, he was afraid he would have to say “no” a lot — to tell people they couldn’t have as much food as they wanted.

Jensen knew that food banks had been struggling to keep up with rising food prices and hunger.

“I was just a little anxious about that,” Jensen said. “I didn’t want to be saying no to anyone.”

Then he started volunteering and realized how wrong he had been.

“I now know what an idiot I was all those months ago,” he wrote on Reddit last week in a post detailing his experience.

Not only has he not had to tell anyone “no,” but he often has to encourage people to take what they need.

“People will say ‘I don’t want to take more than my share,’ and, ‘Are you sure you have enough for everybody?’” Jensen said in an interview with The Washington Post. “Some folks are clearly not getting enough to eat and they’re still thinking of other people.”

“What I’ve gotten extra portions of is humble pie,” he wrote on Reddit. “And a stronger belief in the fundamental goodness of people.”

The comments on his post exploded with hundreds of similar stories.

“In my experience, the poorer people are, the more generous they usually are,” one commenter said.

“I have done a fill-the-boot fundraiser many times for a fire department,” said another. “We raise money for muscular dystrophy. I learned that the crappiest cars give the most money. They apologize for not being able to give more.”

Another person wrote about her mother, who has always struggled financially.

“She goes to a food pantry and takes a big box home to her and her husband,” the person wrote. “She keeps less than a quarter of what she brings back. The rest she packages up and delivers to home-bound seniors that live in her senior community.”

Another commenter, Colton Ehn, wrote: “Thank you sir, as someone who has frequented food banks growing up. You are a pillar and an institution.”

Ehn, 27, said the post resonated with him because he now donates to charity the little money he can in his budget, and thinks many people who don’t have a lot of money do the same.

“They know what it’s like to have nothing,” he said.

In a series of studies, psychologists have found that people with less money may be more willing to give what they have to strangers.

Stephanie Sullivan, the assistant director of marketing and communications at Food Bank for the Heartland in Nebraska, said that she regularly sees concern and generosity from clients at her food bank.

“We hear from neighbors saying, ‘I only come here when I absolutely need to because I know other people need this food as well,” Sullivan said. “People who are facing hunger know how important these resources are.”

Tens of thousands of people on Reddit “upvoted” Jensen’s post, and there were more than 800 comments, many telling personal stories about generosity from people who were financially struggling.

Sonja Mathews, vice president of the board of directors for the Jefferson County Food Bank Association, which includes the food bank where Jensen works, said that last week she noticed an unusual number of donations coming in.

When she looked into it, she saw about $3,000 — a huge amount for the food bank — in digital donations, mostly in very small amounts.

Mathews said that most of the people who work at the food banks in Jefferson County are volunteers, and many are also clients who visit the food bank when they’re in need.

“They want to give back in some way,” Mathews said.

Port Townsend is a small town on a peninsula, and she said she assumed that was why there was such a strong sense of community.

“I always thought it was a small town thing,” she said.

But when Mathews read the comments on Jensen’s post, she said it made her think that generosity among people who have the least seems to be universal.

“When I read the comments, I was like, ‘Oh, this magic is everywhere.’ And I’m so glad that Michael thought to share that message,” she said.

Jensen said that when people are personally touched by need, they understand how much a little bit of assistance can help.

“Every single shift, there are a number of people who will say to the volunteers, ‘Thank you for being here. We really appreciate what you’re doing,’” Jensen said. “And that’s just really energizing. It makes you feel really good about the world.”