Puteri’s World

Jim Ferguson was manning a Lions Club donation table outside Raley’s in Galt on Saturday, chatting with customers and thanking those who gave money to the club’s White Cane Week program.

All funds collected during the week go to help buy glasses for about 50 local needy children. By 3:15 p.m. Saturday, various Lions Club members had been sitting outside the Twin Cities Road store for most of the day.

“This man came out of the store, stopped in front of me and started to ask questions about what we did. So I started to explain it,” Ferguson said Tuesday. “And then all of a sudden he grabbed the jar and ran.”

Ferguson chased after the man, going so far as to try to hold the door open of the man’s old, white BMW. When the car took off, Ferguson let go.

The jar, with the day’s donations, was gone.

“It’s kind of a sad tale, but it kind of had a happy ending,” Ferguson said.

The sad part of the tale is that the suspect got away with the jar, which Lions members estimate had perhaps $100 to $200 in it.

But the better part of the tale is that Wayne Swartz, a bartender at Galt’s Zacateca’s restaurant, saw the end of the incident as he emerged from the grocery store.

“I was pretty mad at the time it happened. The guy sat out there for hours, and they took his whole jar,” Swartz said.

Without saying anything, he went back into Raley’s to use an ATM. He emerged and gave the Lions Club members $100 in cash.

The club members were thrilled, though Swartz wasn’t expecting any recognition.

“I didn’t do this for any publicity,” the Lodi resident said.Jim Ferguson was manning a Lions Club donation table outside Raley’s in Galt on Saturday, chatting with customers and thanking those who gave money to the club’s White Cane Week program.

Source: LodiNews.com

Doug who was manning that same table from 9-12 that Saturday at Raley’s only heard of the story today. He saw the story on the local TV station web site today and told me about it.

I think that it is despicable that someone would steal money that is being raised for needy children. I hope that person will be caught by the police soon.

What a low life!