Single mom 'speechless' over grocery store workers' generosity
VANCOUVER, Wash. – Single mom Tina Reaves was just looking for a discount on a turkey to feed her small family on Thanksgiving Day.
With the cupboards at home mostly bare, she asked the manager at a Vancouver, Wash. Safeway store on Wednesday if there was any chance they had a turkey that was on sale.
“I said, “this is probably going to sound very strange, but I was wondering.” I said I’m a single mom of two girls and I just asked if they had a turkey that was discountable,” Reaves recalled.
Perhaps one that had been dropped or dinged up could be sold at a discount, she said to the manager.
Reaves got a turkey for Thanksgiving, all right, and a whole lot more, thanks to the generosity of the unidentified manager and employees of the store.
Instead of a discounted turkey, the manager offered her a 13-pound turkey – for free. Other employees pitched in to add rolls, soda pop, stuffing mix, vegetables, fruit, milk, gravy, pies, even a bottle of sparkling cider. The total cost was over $70.
But, like they say, that’s not all.
Employees also contributed a $10 Safeway gift card, $11 in cash and a hand-written note wishing her Happy Thanksgiving.
“To see [the manager] with a cart full of this… I was speechless,” Reaves said. “I just started crying, and he gave me the biggest hug.”
“It’s just really been a struggle,” Reaves said. “I’ve been trying to pay off bills that I can’t even afford.”
She said the family could not afford gas to drive to see relatives over the holiday.
“At first, I felt that I was really unworthy for all of this, and then after a few minutes of crying I realized that there are so many great people in the world,” Reaves said.
"I want to thank those out there who really helped us today with all the stuff,” Reaves young daughter Jaden said.
The Safeway manager and employees did not have permission to discuss their good deed with KATU News.
Reaves said the donated food is “more than enough” and she plans to donate some of it to a local food bank. “Now we have so much to be thankful for, really, and to come together and to celebrate it together is amazing,” she said.
“It was really amazing that people care so much for someone they don’t even know,” Reaves said.
This is just AWESOME! I am sad the company policy can't allow the media to know who did a good deed. More stores in the area should be so generous. . My company The Management Group adopts a family every year. It is GREAT to hear this family had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Kudos to the Vancouver Safeway that did this.
Faith in humanity is restored
It would be nice to know WHICH Safeway was so generous so that we could frequent it and give thanks, ourselves.
 @CTWU I know which one but can't say. Company Rules. The SAFEWAY company should come public and recognize it's GREAT team!
 @Joannev It looks a *little* like the one in J & M Plaza but the Starbucks sign would be on the other side of the building and the one on Main Street doesn't have a Starbucks.  I also know it isn't the Walnut Grove Safeway.  It's been a while since I went to the one in Salmon Creek but it *could* be that one.  I was hoping a frequent customer might actually say, too.
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I'm tired of Safeway cutting back on their Customer Service counters. Â I think they're only open from 9 am to 6 or 7 pm. Â While I don't need them often, I've seen a decline in the ability to provide the great customer service we used to get from them -- through no fault of the Safeway employees but from upper level corporate management. Â We've actually stopped shopping there because it has become a hassel. Â FM produce never seemed as fresh as Safeway's but its become more convenient. Â We also know we need to budget extra time to get through the lines at FM since their cashiers are so darn slow (not all of them and, of course, we all know which cashier to avoid!).
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So, yes, I think they very much deserve the recognition for the hard work this crew put together. Â I love, too, the $11 they collected. Â I can just see the employees reaching in to their pockets and pulling out the last of the change they had... Â It is very touching. Â And Corporate is probably having a fit over it!
 @CTWU Doesn't matter which store, Safeway's been around a long time. I miss those stores-we don't have them where I live now. The real point is, "PAY IT FORWARD!" None of us knows when we'll be the one in need. My late Mom always told us, "It don't cost a thing to be nice, but it sure pays well."
@nostromo @CTWU - Great idea CTWU! It really does matter which store it was. Safeway Corp didn't do the nice deed, the employees of this location did it. Those employees deserve to have their store do well so that they can all keep their jobs. I hope you find out which location it was CTWU!
The lord said, The least you have done unto my children, You have done unto me. It proves that among all the hate, war, crimes..... Christianity is still strong. one day you may have an oppertunity to help someone, what will you do?
Ah - Safeway - your managers and your employees ROCK!Â
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It took a lot of courage for this woman to ask for some relief from this specific store manager. And I commend this manager for recognizing a moment in time when he or she could truly make a difference in one person's life by extending this small gesture back in response. I am certain all of the employees had to provide all of this out of their own pockets. Not necessarily the corporate deep pockets of Safeway.Â
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Thanks for publishing this story. Thanks good people at Safeway. Caring community members.Â
Very Impressed by the Safeway manager and employees. Â In no way was any one of the obligated to do this. Â They did this because they saw a fellow human being in need and wanted to help. Â If only we all took time out to do these random acts of kindness once in a while. Â It is nice to see that there are still people willing to help the less fortunate in society.
What a wonderful thing...it's so good to see people caring for others.
It only takes a little bit, but if a lot of people do just a little bit, it can really add up!
Nice work Safeway. You not only made their day you made my day.
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Today when giving thanks at our family thanksgiving dinner I offered hope that those less fortunate would be provided for. This is the answer.
As a person that has known this mother and her daughters since the 90s, I can say that there is no one that works harder than Tina to provide for her children. She works graveyard, and any overtime she can get just to provide for them. She ALWAYS puts their needs in front of her own, like any good mother should. As for father #1, he is recently unemployed. Father #2 is incarcerated. She has never had to rely on one of them before.
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What I would like to say most is, it doesn't matter WHY the Safeway employees were so kind and generous, it just matters that they were. No matter why you do it, giving to help others feels good. If you do it because you're trying to feel better about yourself because you did something you're not proud of in the past, or if you're doing it because you just want to help someone that is less fortunate than you, it just feels good to help someone. I thank the Safeway folks that did this. You don't know how happy you made three ladies that truly deserve it. From now on, I'll do my grocery shopping at Safeway.Â
This is a great story. Â The Safeway manager and his employees certainly have my respect.
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Most folks look at this as a benefit to the young mother and her girls, and it certainly is.  However, perhaps the Safeway manager and employees helped this young lady and her daughters not so much for the benefit of this small family, instead performing this act of kindness to satisfy a personal desire or to payback an act of kindness they had received. Â
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Today its hard to know if an act of kindness you perform will have any value to the person who is receiving the kindness. Â It doesn't matter what this lady's situation is, but as a single mother of two young daughters, the Manager saw a situation where he felt his actions would be appreciated and he could feel good about his actions.
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I suspect I'm not making sense here, so I hope you can at least catch what I'm trying to say.
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Happy Thanksgiving to all, and may the spirit of this season be present year long instead of only a few weeks.
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 @Tox You make plenty of sense. I believe that most people feel a need to help and show kindness to others; it's what made us form villages and eventually, nations. If it weren't for this, there would be no charity or compassion anywhere. I don't question the motives of these truly wonderful Safeway employees, and I'm sure those little girls wouldn't. The smiles on those little faces are what really motivated them.
What a super way to be proactive. Thank you Safeway manager and employees! This shows there are still some caring people out there, that are willing to help others.
Good people still are out there
Nice story. Just think about all the acts of kindness and generosity that occur unoticed all the time, If you look for the good in people, you can find it,
 @Jutnar That is something that some of us need to keep in mind. It's so easy to look at the normal press and idiocy and forget all the unsung people who try to make things a little better for no other reason than they are good and caring people. To all of you at Safeway and all of you unsung, I am proud of you.
Onion on my eyes!
They are now fed for a few days. Then what? Where are the two farthers of these girls? We need to raise our sons to view our daughters properly, not as property.
 @dennis frantz Interesting that you just presumed that the girls have different fathers.  Is it because their mother is single?  One of TIna's friends spoke above and the girls in his case do have different dads, but you're a world-class jerk for just presuming it.
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Where the father was of my mother-in-law's older son? She was a single mother and struggled for a while and needed some help. Â I guess my brother-in-law's father's parents didn't raise their son right because he grew up without a dad. Â Well, guess what. Â You don't know. Â The very first Christmas my brother-in-law was alive, when he was six months old, his dad died in a car crash.
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Before you judge people, think about how you don't know the whole story. Â If you find out a father isn't around, find out why. Â Not all dads who are alive run out. Â Some were never told because the mothers don't want their exes around because they like someone else. Â Sometimes, as in the case of the older girl's father, he's unemployed and has been unable ti find work. Â You're only making yourself look like an ass when you jump right to presuming single moms have different dads for all their kids.
Aria, I understand what you're saying, but I honestly don't think that Dennis was trying to be a jerk... Â When I first saw the story and the photos, I also thought that these 2 girls probably had different dads, but that was based on their different appearances... but that thought was NOT a "judgment"; it was simply an observation. Â Â
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Insofar as this story is concerned, whether these 2 girls have the same or different fathers doesn't enter into it. Â The story here is that the girls and their mom were in need of some help, and they were given a wonderful gift by a Safeway manager and some of the store's employees... period. Â They didn't ask for a "handout"; they only asked if they could PURCHASE a turkey and perhaps get a discounted price on it. Â Â The manager and employees responded by giving them a turkey and other things for their holiday meal. Â Â (Apparently, enough food so that Tina is giving some of it to a local food bank... "paying it forward".) Â Â
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The existence - or NON-existence - of a live-in father in this story is not relevant to this story, but I think Dennis was simply bringing an issue up that IS relevant to our society as a whole these days. Â But I didn't get the feeling that he was being judgmental of Tina in his post... Â
 @dennis frantz Perhaps the Safeway manager and employees helped this young lady and her daughters not so much for the small family, instead performing this act of kindness for themselves. Â
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I'm having a hard time explaining...but there are those who take advantage of a situation like this to fulfill their own need to give to others.  Maybe they are repaying an act of kindness someone did for them, or they have a personal/family tradition to help others. Â
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Today its hard to know if an act of kindness you perform will have an value to the person who is receiving the kindness. Â It doesn't matter what this lady situation is, but as a single mother of two young daughters, the Manager saw a situation where he knew his actions would help and he could feel good about what he did.
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I suspect I'm not making sense here, so I hope you can at least catch what I'm trying to say.
 @Tox  @dennis frantz ~  I think I understand what you're saying, Tox... For most of us (the so-called "99%"), we don't have the individual means to make huge differences in the world... but sometimes, a situation presents itself to us (like this lady and her 2 kids), and even though we can't solve ALL of the problems for that person, we CAN make this one day, or even the next few days, a little better for them.  Â
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As for feeling good about it, sure; I think most people want to do things that make them feel good... Â It's not so much "patting yourself on the back" as it is knowing that someone else's life was made a little bit easier - or happier - because of something you gave them or did for them...
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No way to know how often it happens, but I always hope that maybe someday, they'll pay it forward, and do something good for another person. Â Good karma...
 @dennis frantz ~  That's true, Dennis... but in the meantime, until we can solve all those absent-parent issues (which might never happen, at least entirely), we're going to have people who need some help, even to the extent of just putting another meal on the table.   We don't know anything about this lady, except that she has a couple of kids, and she needed some help ~ and the mgr and workers at Safeway were kind and generous enough to help her.  Â
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Granted; there are many things we need to do to help people help themselves long-term...but sometimes, what we need to do is extend a hand-up "just for today"... and there's nothing wrong with that...
@dennis frantz Guess you don't appreciate what the Safeway folks did huh!!!!! Remember the idiots that lived in McMinnville that rob banks for a living in Tx.....yes that's right father, son and daughter.....Seems that some were bad mouthing the mother of the son/daughter until they found out that Mom died of breast cancer sometime after the daughter was born.....We DO NOT know where the fathers are or anything about their personal lives....Be thankful there are those that will help....someday you may need help!!!
Thank you, Safeway manager & employees..! Â Â Y'know, this might not seem like a lot to some of us, but I'll bet this mom and her kids will remember this Thanksgiving for a long, long time..! Â Â This is a little bit of the America I grew up in... so nice to know that it hasn't entirely disappeared... Â
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Happy Thanksgiving, KATU and fellow posters & families..! Â Â :-)
 @margay1 Nicely stated Margay1.  :-D
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Kudos to the People who helped make this families T-Day special.
 @cpt.iceman Got your back, Iceman!
You have a great T-Day also Gravity Works!!
 @Gravity Works!  @cpt.iceman Happy Thanksgiving to you both!
 @cpt.iceman Am in the middle of a great one.  I'm grateful for the ability to be grateful for anything.  How are you and yours?
this story made me cry
 @Phuzz ~  Well, I did't cry, but it sure made me smile..!   What a nice thing to do..!  :-)
Great job to those involved in helping those in need. (Chester- not sure what to think of your post besides it doesn't need to be on such a positive wall.Â
A tremendously thoughtful gesture by the manager and employees of Safeway. Well done!
The very best part of this story is that, not only is this family thankful (overwhelmed!) for the generosity of strangers, but they are generously giving from their unexpected abundance to others who are in even worse shape than they are!Â
I am impressed!
 @Gravity Works! ~  "paying it forward"...  If we all did that, even occasionally, it would be a better word for everybody... Â
The GOP has declared such actions objectionable. "People should not be accepting help from others. They must help themselves. Even if it means ending their lives instead of seeking or accepting help".
@Chester White WTH are you talking about? statistics show that people associated with the GOP are a lot more likely to donate and perform charitable acts than the other major political party, just remember that it is BHO's health plan that calls for a death pannel to decide who is worth saving and who is not!
 @franksbeans  @Chester No need to remember anything, an insurer just declared my mother rehabilitated after a stroke three weeks ago. Can't stand, has trouble swallowing, but they didn't ask, they just called the facility to say she should have recovered by now so will be out of assisted living. She'll be eligible for medicare in a few weeks, so it'll work out, but if you want to champion the current system, you have a lot of work ahead of you.
 @Chester White Sky diving without a parachute again?
 @Khre'Riov Ael i-Mhiessan t'Rllaillieu  @Chester White ~  Um-mm... and landed on his head, I'd guess...Â
 @Khre'Riov Ael i-Mhiessan t'Rllaillieu  @Chester White ~  Good one..!  LOL!
   @margay1 @Chester WhiteÂ
It didn't work to improve the ol IQ any!
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LOL! Maybe he needs to change his name to Jester Black..
Troll of the month goes to Chester White!!!
 @cpt.iceman Grin! ];->  Ain't it the truth?!
 @Gravity Works!  @cpt.iceman Sounds more like a Tornado of destruction MO..
 @Chester White Aren't you just a bright ray of sunshine?