Every once in a while, social media can be used for good.
Tuesday was one of those instances at The Comox Valley Record.
We received an email from a reader who was hoping to reunite a keepsake with its proper owner.
He had come across a birthday card found slipped into a game given to one of our local charities before Christmas. The birthday card was dated 1978, and the letter that came with the card was written on New Year’s Day, 1979.
The note said “Happy birthday, Grandma. Love, Kathleen and Jennifer.”
Kathleen’s signature was the type of scrawl typical of a toddler. Jennifer’s was much neater, indicating she was the elder sibling.
The bottom half of the note read, “Have a good day, Mum. Thinking of you, love Ken and Madeline.”
We posted the letter onto our Facebook page and asked our followers to share, in hopes of finding resolution to the mystery. There was no huge reward; no “unclaimed millions”; simply a sentimental card, that had obviously been misplaced.
It took less than an hour for the office phone to ring.
One of our Facebook friends did some sleuthing “instead of doing my morning crossword,” and quickly solved the mystery.
The family was found, and before lunch, Kathleen had responded to a message, confirming that she was, indeed, the granddaughter whose youthful signature graced that letter.
We passed along the contact info for the fellow who had found the letter, and a keepsake is now being returned to its rightful owner.
So, what? Big deal.
Oh yes, it’s true; no lives were saved. No homeless were sheltered and no diseases were cured.
But one reader reached out and made another family very happy, for no reason, other than because he knew if it were his letter that had been lost, he’s be thrilled to have it returned.
Sometimes another person’s happiness can be reward enough.
–TF