INDIANAPOLIS – They say one decision can make a world of difference. That’s what one Hoosier woman is saying after a total stranger helped her 11-year-old son buy her a coat for Christmas.
The stranger didn’t know how much she needed the coat and what the gesture has done for them.
Eleven-year-old Gabe Wattley only had $20, but wanted to do something nice for his mom while shopping at Target.
“He had actually bought me a winter coat. For a lot of reasons that, it choked me up," Gabe's mom LaDonna Wattley explained to WXIN.
LaDonna needed a winter coat badly. "For the last two years, the coat I was wearing was all shredded up inside. The lining was shredded up inside. I didn’t even know he realized that. I didn’t say anything about it. You do what you have to do," LaDonna said.
"I wanted to show that I know that she loves me, appreciates me, and takes care of me," Gabe told WXIN.
He couldn’t afford to pay full price. This was when a complete stranger stepped in.
She gave the cashier $60 to help pay for the coat. All of this was happening as LaDonna was still shopping.
"People who were in line were kind of smiling and nodding and I noticed some of the Target employees. He’s like cover your eyes mom, cover your eyes. I didn’t know what was going on. I just did what I was told," LaDonna said.
So on Christmas morning, when she opened her gift she was moved to tears. She posted the kind act on social media and it’s been shared close to 70,000 times.
She wants to find out who the good Samaritan is and simply thank her; also tell her how powerful the gesture has been.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you so much," said Gabe.
Gabe said the stranger also offered to buy gloves and a hat too. He told her "No thank you" because “I didn’t want her paying anymore money cause that was basically her money."
