On Friday, we ran a letter from a Linwood woman who told a heart-rending story of how a thief stole the only gift her 3-year-old had gotten for her birthday: an electric Barbie Jeep. The girl's father has been out of work for more than a year, and the entire extended family had chipped in to get her the gift she had wanted for months.
Since that letter ran, more than a dozen people have called here offering to help or to replace the jeep. During the course of writing this short blog, I just fielded another phone call.
The mother, Karen Buondonno, called us Friday afternoon with tears in her voice. That morning, a brand new jeep had arrived from a local businessman. The offers poured in all day.
What a great story. Buondonno was at first afraid her child had gotten a cruel lesson in how low people can be.
Instead, she got a valuable lesson in human nature: For every low-down, heartless scum out there, there are dozens of honest, compassionate people who want to make things right.
A nice way to start the week, no?
