Christmas is for giving - and giving back

Fundraising | 27 Jan 2009

Christmas can be a stressful time and many of us will be glad to have got through it without any mishaps, but Margaret Gardiner of Tonypandy in Wales has more reason to be relieved than most.

She feared she had ruined her family's Christmas when she mistakenly took a bag containing hundreds of pounds worth of presents to a charity shop.

But the Church Charity shop in nearby Penygraig saved the day by writing out a cheque for £200 to replace the clothes and games meant for her two grandchildren, aged 14 and eight.

"My daughter-in-law Emma brought the bags to the house and said ‘these are for the charity shop' and as she said it she was winking," Mrs Gardiner, 75, told WalesOnline. "But I didn't see her do it. So first thing that Monday morning I took the clothes down to the shop.

"Then when she came around to collect the stuff and asked where the other bag was, we hunted high and low for it; only when she went home did it hit me. I've never felt so terrible in my whole life, it was devastating."

Goods already sold

On contacting the shop she was told that that the items had already been sold, but later received a call from Father Lewis Jenkins with the news that he was willing to pass on the money raised.

"It's a nice Christmas story, and it's what our faith is about," said Jenkins. "It proves we do what the old adage says, we practice what we preach.

"We were just so happy that we could do something about it, even if we didn't get back what the value of the clothes actually was.

"And it was evident yesterday that Mrs Gardiner was so grateful and relieved that it was sorted out."

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