Generous people share season’s blessing with teen

The bombing deaths of 13 U.S. soldiers and 5 civilians in Iraq. More women coming forward in a possible serial rapist case. No end in sight to the governor’s race. ‘Tis the season, eh?

But Wednesday’s bleak fog was pierced when my wife forwarded an e-mail to me about the contagious nature of compassion. I’m sure stories like this abound in the Inland Northwest and most of them don’t get told. Consider this a tribute to all of those random acts of kindness.

Judy Rose of Spokane was perusing her church’s tree of sharing for foster kids and noticed that some Christmas gift requests were unfilled. She and friends had already filled two wishes but wanted to make sure a teenager they didn’t know would get the snowboard he wanted. But she also knew that snowboards are expensive and figured nobody else would buy it.

“Poor kids want the same thing as all kids do,” she said, describing her motivation for finding a way to fulfill the wish.

So, she called Mountain Gear, a local outfitter, and told them the story. They sold a snowboard to her at a discount and threw in boots and bindings for free.

An elated Rose shared the story with a friend, Rebecca Lindekugel, who recounted the story to her husband. He said they ought to purchase a pass for the kid so he could use the snowboard.

As it turns out, a social worker said the foster teen wouldn’t be able to go snowboarding without adult supervision. So, Lindekugel called the Mt. Spokane ski resort and told them the story.

They produced two adult passes and two kid passes and — you guessed it — wouldn’t let her pay for them.

‘Tis the season, after all.