A Christmas Good Samaritan

[Niner]

My wife had to run down to the Walgreen's on Christmas day evening....yes, they were open.

As she was leaving she saw these two fellows talking. One looked like a "down on his luck" kindof dude with a bicycle, and she said the other guy "looked" like a retired military dude (WHATEVER they "look" like).

As she walked by them the one fellow was saying to the "panhandler":
"Before I give you any money, let me ask you a question. Have you had anything to eat today?"
To which the other fellow replied that he indeed had not eaten that day.
The "Samaritan" then said, "How about we go across the road there, and I buy you a meal?"
The "panhandler" replied that would be wonderful.

As she was getting into her car she looked in the mirror, and could see them loading the one dude's bicycle into the other guy's truck.


It kind of warmed my heart to hear her tell the story.

[LW]

Thats a great story.

[Thumper]

I used to always drop my change off with the ... ummm, more "unfortunate" pan-handers on the street corners. I did that at the exit of Wally World one day, then gassed up at the Murphy (Walmart) gas station across the street. When I left, I spotted the same guy sitting behind the building with about 4 other "bums" drinking a bottle of cheap liquor.

It's prolly been 5-6 years ago, but I had a similar situation. It was just before Christmas and a "pan-handler" approached me in front of the Post Office with a story of not eating for the last two days, etc, etc, etc. There is a little mom & pop restaurant (still there and been there for a zillion years) directly across the side street from the Post Office parking lot that advertises 2-eggs, 2-bacon strips, toast and coffee for $2.99 or $3.99 (sumpin' like that?). I handed him a $5 bill and told him to go straight across the street to that place and get himself some breakfast. I went in to mail my package (self-serve postage machine) and it only took me a couple minutes. When I came out he was on the way across the street, but looking over his shoulder as he walked. (he saw me come back out) Sumpin' just didn't look "right", so I drove by the place and noticed he was standing in the doorway peeking around the wall watching me go by. I circled the block and spotted him walking down the street, most likely headed for the little dive liquor store 1/2 block away.

Again, years ago, I was working nights and on the way home, passed a car on the side of the road with a young couple standing next to it. It was late (around midnight) and a dark, desolate stretch of road, so I stopped to see if I could help. They said they were on the way to the convenience store down the road to buy their baby some milk, but ran out of gas. I always carried a 5-gal. can of gas with me, so I dumped the remaining contents (3-4 gals.) into their car as I listened to their story of despair and how broke they are. I gave them $10 or $15(?) for a bit more gas and some milk for the baby. I followed them (it was on my way home) and they pulled into a convenience store as I passed by. I did notice they didn't pull up to the pumps and as I looked in my mirror, saw that they pulled into a spot in front of the store. I didn't think too much of it at first, but the more I thought about it, the more it started to smell. I turned around, drove back to the store and they were gone. I went inside, described them and asked the clerk what they bought (told her why I was asking). She said she had a copy of the tape right there ... a pack of cigs, a quart of beer and a small apple juice (I assumed the apple juice was "milk" for the baby).

I love feel-good stories like this, but I acquired a bit of a bad taste in my mouth over the years. I DO donate to charity ... I do NOT donate to pan-handlers. I guess the trick is to load them in my truck and personally take them to breakfast.

[Thumper]

Huh? I just re-read that post and see there's a "smiley" (coffee mug) in the story. I didn't insert that ... I printed out the word "coffee" and it inserted itself! Weird.

Test ... coffee

Edit ... hmmm, I guess it wasn't a fluke! coffee coffee coffee

[Niner]

Thanks for the "heads up" Thumpster.
When I put that smilie up, I forgot to enter the ":" before the "coffee".

Edited and fixed now!!

If you enter ": and then coffee" you'll get :coffee.

Just like ": biggrin" will get a :biggrin.

[Thumper]

Ha ha! Now my last post looks kind'a silly! :D

[Buckrub]

As do you.

Our little town had a neat happenin'........"Somebody" put a gold 'nugget' (one Krugerrand, and two different other gold pieces) in the Salvation Army kettles. They'd make an anonymous call to the local guy and tell him to make sure to look hard in the kettle. It was at the Walmart that I go to, about 3 miles from here. They auctioned all 3 off, and got about $6,000.

Neat story. Difficult to list that on your Schedule A..........without raising eyebrows, I imagine.

[Hombre]

On Christmas Eve this year we started a new tradition. As a family we wanted to do some kind of volunteer work. We chose volunteering at the local Senior Center in North Bend. The kids and wife made cookies and on Tuesday night we took them in and socialized with the residents....generally we just talked and played cards. It was really nice and the old timers have some cool stories and most of them had come from all over. It was a really enjoyable time. Maybe we'll do something different next time but it was a really enjoyable evening.