Tara Troy Gambardella - Acts of Kindness -

My daughter stopped at Trader Joe’s this morning after

dropping of her son a school. She whipped through the store.

with her 20mth old daughter, Getting her most needed items. When she reached the register, there was no wallet.  The

cashier insisted on paying the bill. She was remembering

how crazy her life was when she had her little ones.

My daughter will be repaying the cashierm, later, and leaving

a gift card for the cashier.  Life feels good ,today, for the

both of them. 

We received an email from a High School junior. He is not only a great baseball player, but also volunteers at the baseball clinics our boys attend. Coach Dale always has a smile for the kids. If they meet up with him at the ball park he is always up for a game of catch or even basketball. His dream is to play Pro ball. He was picked to participate for a very elite travel team this summer. Unfortunately, it is very expensive. He is one of 3 boys in a family struggling to get by. His email described his passion for baseball and also asked for any donation to help offset the cost of the summer team. I didn’t hesitate as I thought of what Tara would do.

Yesterday a local organization came by my house to pick up a piece of furniture I was donating. This organization provides opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The driver of the truck was accompanied by “Tommy” one of the individuals the program is designed to help. Tommy was wearing a imitation law enforcement badge that was most likely a donation. He pointed to the badge and told me what it represented and what his role was. He was very sweet and quite proud to be wearing this badge.

I had a Junior Ranger badge from a recent national park visit that I thought he might like. I presented the badge to him asking if, given the chance, he would protect our national parks. He said yes quickly and eagerly received the new badge. This simple gift clearly made his day. And mine.

I took my brother who is developmentally disabled to his favorite breakfast spot, Ihop. When we arrived the wait Was 30 minutes and the lobby was packed. I wanted to go somewhere else, but I gave him the choice and he wanted to stay and wait. So I endured over a half hour, but I know it may him happy.

A friend and I were camping recently and we met a woman, most likely in her late 70’s, who was camping alone in her RV for a few days while waiting for her husband to return from a trip. We invited her to have dinner with us and we also went to visit her occasionally. She was really fun and as it turns out, she was a survivor of the same kind of cancer my friend’s sister is currently battling. That drew us even closer. Here we thought we were reaching out to this woman camping alone, but as it turns out, she was of great comfort to my friend and had some helpful thoughts on how my friend’s sister can cope with her symptoms.

Two nites ago my wife Sharon and I were sitting in a Thai Restaurant with our daughter Sara and 7 other people I very often am aware that my mind goes adrift and remember Tara and Sara being unseperable. Why was Tara and Craig not at that same table? I was sitting with one of Saras childhood friends and mostly people we first met in Princeton Jct and Plainboro yet it was not complete.

Fast forward to two hours ago, I was walking between the post office and general store in our insignificant rural NJ town Next to me was a car van with a magnetic sign on the door saying that the van driver picked up not used fresh foods from local stores and restaurants to give for free to ten local food pantry for them to give to hungry people That sign tugged my heart and I walked over to the driver said hi and asked what was he doing He explained that a local very very small Church did this work to feed hungry people He said that with so many farms in the area there was really enough food, but just was unused in growing fields the church started to pick up not needed crops and just drive them to ten food pantrys His quote was something like ”you know there are plenty of fesh veggies in the area but one ever thought of doing what his church did I tend to be suspicious of people and what they say they do So as I happened to have my checkbook in car which I rarely do I handed him a check equal to a Benjamin Franklin engraving made payable to the Church I thanked him for his anonymous act of kindness and shook his hand He looked at me blessed me and I walked away You know Tara will always be inside of me and I keep hearing her giggle

Thank you Tara Troy Garambella and I will never forget to remember you Never If by chance Carol is reading this you too are a special precious mom and friend a very special lady too!

Steve T.

I pulled into Dunkin Donuts this morning next to a handicap spot. It was cluttered large cups full of soda and I was concerned a person with a disability might be reluctant to pull in that spot as soda might splatter on their car, so I picked up the cups and tossed in the trash.

A friend of mine fell down the stairs and broke her wrist. She was out on disability for several weeks and I brought dinner for her and her father. She was so happy to get it because that day she not only had a broken wrist but she had a bad cold and really appreciated the warm soup and lasagna I brought her.

I am 25 yrs old and my mom still gives all of us 5 gives Easter baskets every year, and this year it dawned on me that she doesn’t get a basket anymore (my parents stopped giving one to eachother years ago) So I decided that she of all people deserves some treats so I surprised her with a basket full of her favorite goodies, lottery tickets & movie tickets. Of course her first reaction was “No you shouldn’t be spending your money on me” …that’s my mom and I love her! :) 

 When I came to school last night, my friend asked if she could do her homework in my room with her friend because she couldn’t concentrate in her room. I was hesitant at first, but then I decided to give her my room key and I let her and her friend stay in my room to do their homework.