A good deed is rewarded

A very nice story from today's Orlando Sentinel. Brunch- Basil's blog

LAKELAND -- Canesha Blackman didn't even think to open the zippered bag she found outside a city building one day last month.The 24-year-old homeless woman just went inside and turned it in, then returned to the task of scraping up enough change to take the bus to her job at a restaurant.

It turned out the bag belonged to a detective with the Polk County Sheriff's Office and held $800 in cash. Deputy Sandy Scherer drove off with the bag on the hood of her car. When she came back looking for it, she was told Blackman turned it in without touching the money.

Subsequent events have changed the life of Blackman, a single mother with five children ranging in age from 6 months to 6 years, as a rather innocuous good deed has prompted a flood of good will from all over.Scherer went to the Salvation Army homeless shelter where Blackman and her children were staying to say thanks.

A reporter for the local newspaper got wind of what happened and printed a story. From there, donations and offers of help poured in. Weeks later it's still happening.

"People give me money on the street," marveled Blackman, who moved from Tampa a year ago when her marriage went sour. "I'm walking down the street, some people will just walk up and give me $20, give my kids money. They stop and talk to me. They make U-turns to talk to me."

A Tampa businessman who heard the story got in touch and last week put up Blackman and her family in a hotel until she can arrange to move into a subsidized apartment. He's also picking up her living expenses for a year and buying her a van.

More than $10,000 has been donated through the Sheriff's Office. Others have given gift cards so that Blackman can buy clothes for her kids.

"When it happened, I didn't even think anything of it," she said. "It's crazy. I've gotten letters from all over. A young girl, she's 18, she wrote me a five-page letter. I have to write her back. I have to write a lot of people back."

Life has kicked Blackman around a bit, but she figures this turn of events will help her get a leg up. She hopes to earn her high-school equivalency diploma, perhaps go to cosmetology school. She also hopes to pursue her dream of being a professional singer.

Joe Fisher, general manager of a gospel radio station near Lakeland, started talking about the story on his morning show, prompting donations from listeners and churches. He's offered to record a demo for her to help her singing career.

"In our community we see so much negative that we needed to help a kid who was doing positive," Fisher said.