A Heart Just Big Enough

Update on yesterday's post:

All day and night yesterday I was consumed with thoughts of the Abney family. I resolved to help in any way that I could. I don't know why they had such a strong impact on me... possibly I felt some guilt for making the grandmother upset... certainly I felt a special connection to the grandmother as she is one of the few women I've ever met to share my name, never-mind the spelling of my name... And of course, once I had more details about the accident and especially once I saw the picture of baby James happily between his loving parents, I was 100% emotionally tied to them. 

I awoke this morning still thinking of the Abney family. I went to work and they continued to dominate my thoughts. I kept seeing baby James sitting in the cart with his Superman colored casts... not really seeing him, just remembering him sitting there. I decided to ask my manager whom I should consult about getting a charitable donation. 

My manager replied that we could only donate our time, not money. For once, I refused to take that as an answer. I took him aside and told him the whole story. I told him about my experience with my customers, the research I had done, and the education fund they had set up for James. I stressed that these were our customers and that we pride ourselves on treating our customers better than anyone else; on being with our customers no matter what. 

I conceded to the store not donating money, but asked if we could supply James with an educational toy. That idea was greeted with a better response. He told me I could go pick something out and he'd see what he could do. I found what I was looking for but became sidetracked with other customers. I saw one of my co-workers after awhile (he's the head of employee engagement) and I told him about my discussion with our manager. 

I was first told that we could do 50% off the item. I had already decided to pay the rest. When my manager found out that I was putting out the money, he went a step further and donated the item straight out. Then I did something completely uncharacteristic of me: I called the unsuspecting grandmother on the phone. While I have yet to get in touch with her, this is the first time that I am looking forward to a telephone call with someone I don't know very well. I generally find talking on the telephone awkward and I hate talking on the telephone with people I don't know, but I'm so excited to be able to call the Abney family with some good news!