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SALT LAKE CITY — The Christmas season often brings out the best in people.
It seems that more people look for ways to serve others, and everyone tries a little harder to be nice during the holidays. If you need an idea of a way to make someone else’s day brighter or if you just need a little pick-me-up for your Monday, we’ve got you covered.
The KSL.com “Make Your Week” column features uplifting stories sent in from people outside the newsroom. To send in the stories that have made your day better, email them in 100 words or less to fjolley@ksl.com. Photos and videos are encouraged.
Returning things to the rightful owner
Temma M.
“One week ago today, on my birthday, our Schwinn Meridian three-wheeled bike was stolen off our porch. I looked out the window and saw the cut lock lying on the porch. I told my husband, ‘I have bad news, someone stole your bike,’ and he said, ‘Let it go, it's just stuff.’ But it made me feel unsafe and sad.
“The night before, someone had been on our porch and gone through a couple bags of shoes I left there that I intended to donate. I thought, ‘It's fine, if someone needs shoes, they can have them.’ It never occurred (to me) that they would come back the next night with bolt cutters and steal the bike.
“I posted a photo on the Nextdoor app, and several people mentioned possibly seeing it, including that same morning, saying a woman was riding a bike matching the description northeast of our neighborhood. Again, my husband said, ‘You have to let it go.’ We had bought it used, and never recorded the serial number, so although I made a police report, we couldn't register it in a database of stolen bikes.
“Last Friday, a wonderful woman named Adria posted on Nextdoor that a man had just bought a tricycle matching the description of our bike from a woman at his store. We drove over there, and met Matt, and told him our story. He immediately said, ‘It's your bike, you can take it.’
“I was in shock. I told him we had no proof and we would want to repay him. He had just given the woman $150 for it, and he had checked to see if it was stolen, but of course, it wasn't in any database. He insisted that it was no big deal, and he was so happy to see us get it back.
“He said the woman got a flat tire right in front of his store and came in crying, and he fixed the tire for her and washed the bike, and then she offered to sell it to him. He not only gave us the bike back for free, although he is out $150, but he also gave us a new lock, and offered to ride the bike to our house, because I had my son with me, and my husband works weekends 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Matt did indeed ride the bike to our house that afternoon and drop it off.
“Honestly, my mind was blown that he is so kind. I told him that we wanted to repay him, and he said ‘It's just good karma.’ It was so amazing to experience an act of kindness and a person who can restore one's faith in humanity.”
Helping kids in foster care
Tiffany M.
“My daughter Lainee just recorded a holiday CD that is being featured all over the world on iTunes to purchase. Lainee is currently selling her music on iTunes, and her CD, to raise money for local kids in the foster care system and foster families who are struggling. There is a local foster family that just lost their young father suddenly last weekend. Because Lainee has been touched by foster and adoption as she gained two teenage sisters when she was only six years old, (going from oldest to middle child overnight), she needed to find her place in this world. … She would like to raise awareness about how amazing the kids in (foster) care are, and how they just need a chance! Most kids come into care with next to nothing, if anything. She plans on changing that!”
