Saldana lives in Tucson and, when he heard of the shooting, he knew he had to do something to help the victims. So, without his parents knowing, he collected a bunch of toys and sold them. He even sold a bracelet that his father, a marine, had given him following a deployment. While nine year olds aren’t known for carrying a lot of spending money around, Saldana was able to raise nearly three dollars. He mailed it to the Congresswoman. His parents didn’t find out till they tipped off by a teacher.
From The Huffington Post:
“‘I didn’t even know what was going on,’ she told HuffPost. ‘I received an email from his teacher saying she just wanted to give me a heads-up that she caught him in class selling toys, so she took his backpack away later that day. I asked him what was going on and he told me the reason he was doing it was that he was trying to raise money to send to Gabrielle.’
Aracely Saldana, 30, said that when she learned her son had raised the money and mailed it to Giffords without her knowing, she was so touched that she teared up.
‘For him to go out of his way risk getting in trouble to do a good thing — that was just awesome,’ she said. ‘I was crying. I am extremely proud of my children.'”
Hopefully, during these trying times, people will read this amazing story and know that, even when a tragedy occurs, there are good people everywhere who will be inspired to do their part, however little, to help. Of course, some will probably look at this story and just wonder whether Saldana’s a Liberal or a Conservative. Until then, lets just appreciate this for what it is; truly inspirational and uplifting.
(HuffPo via Gawker. Image via KVOA)
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