Teddy Bears

 

   About a year ago while driving south on I-59 in Alabama I game upon a woman with a flat tire and stopped to change it for her. She offered to pay me and I told her I don’t take money for helping people on the road. I gave her my card and we went on our way.
   She sent me a nice letter telling me about some song about a woman who broke down and the man named Joe who helped her and Joe wouldn’t except payment, and the woman stopped at a diner for lunch and left the waitress a one hundred dollar tip. The waitress turned out to be Joe’s wife. Enclosed was a check for one hundred dollars. So I sent her a letter telling her that I was going to use the one hundred dollars to put Teddy bears in police cars. 
   While shopping recently at the market where I usually stop on my way outbound I saw some teddy bears, and was reminded that I still needed to get some teddy bears reassigned to the law enforcement detail. But these weren’t just any teddy bears, when I buy one of these teddy bears for ten dollars Price Chopper Supermarkets donates four dollars to the Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital. What a deal, I grabbed ten teddy bears and took them to the cashier with my groceries. The cashier asked if I was giving the teddy bears to family and I told her about the plan to put them in police cars to be given to children.
“What a great idea!” she told me.
   I explained to her how the money came to me and she got the store manager to give me a “Special deal.” They threw in two more bears for the price of ten and agreed to donate the full four dollars each to the Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital. How could I go wrong?
   Worried that the woman in line behind me might be getting impatient waiting her turn I tried to speed things up a bit. Then she asked, “Can I get in on this?”
“Of course,” I told her, “Just buy a teddy bear and give it to a police officer to carry in his car, he’ll know what to do with it.”
   She bought four!
   For years I’ve tried to help people on the road when I can and I’ve supported the teddy bear program, when people want to pay me I tell them to buy a small teddy bear and give it to a police officer. I’ve gotten some strange looks from people, but everyone agrees to do it. It’s also nice to see it’s catching on.
   While driving north on route 66 in western Pennsylvania I saw a State Trooper and stopped him and asked if he had a teddy bear in his car, he said he did not and I gave him one. He took me to his car and gave me a uniform patch for my collection. I’ve never heard the song that the woman mentioned in her letter, but everyone I tell the story to tells me they’ve heard it.
   Don’t you love it when a plan comes together? 
 

Reviews

[Emily B]

I love it when a plan comes together. So much goes on in this world that is good. We never hear about that.

We can still help one another. No need to pretend like we don't see the stranded motorist.

Did you change your screen name? Seems like I might have lost track of you in the big-ness of the cafe.

[Rain]

Wow,
What a feel good story. It's a nice escape from the pain of lost love, and other life agonies. Great write. Rain..