ZEELAND, Mich. — The best gifts are often the ones you never see coming. And if you're gifting to people you've never met, it's almost guaranteed to be a great moment. Such a gift was given recently in Zeeland.
Due to COVID-19, high school graduates across the county are missing out on traditional graduations and celebratory events.
Zeeland East graduate Lizzy Esteves said, "It took a while to accept it. But, I'm okay with where I'm at."
Lizzy's name was on one of dozens of signs in the Faith Reformed Church lawn in Zeeland. The signs were spotted by a man down the street, who called the church with a few questions.
How many seniors did they have that attend the church? They had 31. Was it okay to give them a gift? Yes, it was.
Danyelle Roon, who works for Faith Reformed said, "One day he walked in with a stack of 100 dollar bills."
One for each senior. In total, $3,100.
"And he said, "This is my gift to the seniors in memory of my wife, Sandy," Danyelle said.
The church took the gifts, wrote letters explaining who they came from and why, put in a little candy... and delivered them in-person to each senior.
Danyelle said, "We went to their doors and said, 'we've got a gift for you.'"
"I opened it and saw all this money and I was like, 'Oh my goodness! Is this a mistake? What's going on?'" Lizzy said.
"Someone who has never met them before took time out of their lives and their bank accounts to bless them. It was just a really beautiful moment," Danyelle added.
Lizzy said, "It just makes it easier knowing that other people out there understand what we're going through and that it's not easy and they want to spread some joy. It just helps a lot, knowing the community is out there supporting us."
The donor's name is Tom. He didn't want to be on camera. But, some of the students — including Lizzy — wrote him some 'thank you' notes. Tom... you get today's One Good Thing.
If you have a One Good Thing you'd like to submit — someone or something that makes West Michigan a good place to live — email me with your photos and/or video at OneGoodThing@13OnYourSide.com.
And remember the One Good Thing Facebook page where you can see more One Good Things that don't make it to air.
Yesterday's One Good Thing:
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