Flustered grandma accidentally trashes gifts

EUGENE, Ore. – Distracted by her long seasonal to-do list, it took Eugene resident Rose Marie Sakai, 66, a minute or two to realize the mistake she’d made when she took out her trash this week.

Along with the garbage, the mother of four and grandmother of nine accidentally threw out $170 worth of gifts.

As soon as she realized what she’d done, Sakai rushed to the telephone, and pleaded for help from the county employees from the Glenwood dump.

Usually, when someone calls with a trash emergency, there’s not much crews can do. But it’s Christmas, and so the Glenwood employees sifted through tons of trash, looking for Sakai’s presents.

“She was so sweet and so upset, so we figured we’d give it a try,” said Lane County Waste Management superintendent Jeff Bishop.

Still, the crew came up empty-handed.

So then a pair of employees put their heads together, and decided to raise some money for Sakai.

Passing the hat yielded $236 – equipment operators, fee collectors, recyclers and other workers all chipped in.

“I never will forget this. It’s a miracle,” Sakai said Friday. “Never lose your faith, because good things can happen. They were so nice, those people.”