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Struggling Family Thankful for Kindness of Strangers

By Heart Of The Home
Published on December 20, 2012
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Photo By Fotolia/MSPhotographic
The kindness of strangers allowed Ursula and her family to celebrate Thanksgiving with a bountiful holiday dinner.

Many years ago, when we were a young couple with two small
children, ages 2 and 4, we practically lived from hand to mouth. My in-laws
were about as poor, so we didn’t expect any help from them. My parents lived a
great distance away, and I was too ashamed to let them know about our
situation.

We ate a lot of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese. And we
never ate out!

My husband was trying to earn a living with an old wreck of
a dump truck, but the thing was constantly breaking down, and it took almost
all the money we had to have it fixed. The truck also was our only mode of
transportation.

Thanksgiving was approaching, but for us, it meant nothing
special. We would probably be eating the usual hot dogs, with a bowl of Jell-O
as a special treat.

The Kindness of Strangers During Tough Times

We lived in the country, and we always used the back door
because the driveway led to it. That year, the evening before Thanksgiving, I
stepped outside to take a bag of trash to the barrel and almost tripped over
something. It was nearly dark, and I had to bend down to see what it was. I
could hardly believe my eyes. There sat a large basket loaded with food.

It was heavy, so I called to my husband to carry into the
house. Once inside, we discovered two loaves of bread, some butter, several
cans of vegetables, a can of cranberry sauce, and, way at the bottom, a large
turkey. There was so much I can’t remember it all, but it was everything we
needed to fix a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner — everything except potatoes.

A little while later I remembered that I hadn’t taken the
trash to the barrel. By now it was dark, so I had to turn on the yard light —
and that’s when I spotted a small bag of potatoes sitting on the porch.

That Thanksgiving, we had the best dinner I can remember.

We weren’t able to thank our benefactor(s), though, because
we never found out who had been so generous in helping a struggling young
family. Whoever it was, we are forever grateful.

Ursula
Coffeyville, Kansas

Read
more tales of generosity by CAPPER’s readers in 
Stories of Helping Others.