Something funny happened today.

[conuly]

We found a actual, mailed letter, addressed to me but with no return address. I open it up, and there is an unsigned note saying they think this can come in handy. What can come in handy? A gift certificate to the local supermarket, with a receipt from said supermarket so I know that it's been paid for.

That certainly will come in handy! But who sent this?

Most of the people who know we have a little budget shortfall this week do not live on Staten Island, so they couldn't reasonably go to my supermarket to buy a gift certificate. And it's not another one in the chain, the receipt has the address on it.

Those people in my neighborhood mostly don't know, and at any rate few of them know my last name. It doesn't come up that often. A friend suggested it might be payback for the Halloween candy, which certainly did cost more than $25, not that I begrudge it to anybody (if I did, I would not have handed it out!), but then why go to the effort of mailing that instead of walking by and dropping it in? And I'm pretty sure I haven't mentioned it to anybody else I know casually, who at any rate wouldn't know either my address OR last name.

Truly, it's a conundrum. But I'm certainly grateful for it! I may have splurged on ice cream for the nieces yesterday on the grounds that they'll be with their dad for thanksgiving, but then I found out that this is by no means confirmed. Sheesh. On the plus side, school lunch is free for all students this month because of the storm. The storm isn't behind the budget gap (that's a plumbing problem that, upon close examination, we will in no way be able to attribute to anything other than putting it off too long), but there's no reason we can't take advantage of this.

Comments

[redbird]

For reasons I no longer remember, quite a few years ago I received a coupon for one free package of anything made by Nabisco. I passed it on to a friend, who seemed slightly apologetic when she told me that she had bought the great big package of Oreos for some children she knew whose parents could almost never afford that sort of treat. I thought, and told her, that this was an excellent use of the windfall: it hadn't been part of anyone's household budgeting, and kids should have a treat now and then.

[conuly]

Truly, it was a gift that kept on giving : )

The Third Level of Tzedakah

[siderea]

Awwwww. Whomever it is, they don't want you to know. Traditionally, this is so that you don't have to feel indebted to them nor ashamed they knew things were tight for you. What a sweet thing to do. Could it have been read off your mailbox? Or from an organization's rolls that you're on? I would not be surprised if it were the act of a stranger responding to the storm.

Re: The Third Level of Tzedakah

[conuly]

It is sweet, and it meant we could afford to see a movie at the matinee price today, which we'd promised the girls before the plumbing happened, so I'm thrilled. I just have no clue who knows both my full name and address and also lives nearby!