'I can't believe this'

Robin Milligan wasn’t having much success as she tried, for the first time, to pay for groceries with her new food stamp card at a Coeur d'Alene grocery store.

A few grumbles arose from some in the line waiting behind her as she tried the card several times.

“They were getting mad because it was taking me so long,” Milligan said. “I said, ‘I’m sorry.'” 

About then, a friendly middle-aged man offered to cover Milligan’s grocery tab, a little over $100. She appreciated the gesture, but finally, the card transaction went through and she headed for her car. 

“That’s very sweet of you,” she told the man. 

As she settled in behind the driver’s seat, the man came running out and caught up with her. When he did, he handed her a $100 bill, which she tried to refuse. 

“He pretty much made me take it,” Milligan said. “I was just like, ‘wow.' He made sure he was going to brighten my day.” 

The man told her he was doing well, could afford it and wanted to help. 

“He hugged me,” Milligan said. 

The Coeur d'Alene woman said she cried. 

“I can’t believe this just happened to me,” she recalled thinking at the time.

Milligan said the man could not have known just how badly she needed the money. 

She said she had received a notice that her electricity faced being turned off because she had fallen behind on the bill. 

“He had no idea I was in that boat. He didn’t know I had a shut off on my electricity,” Milligan said. “He just knew I was falling on hard times because I was using a new food stamps card.” 

Milligan, who receives Social Security, is retired. She said she can’t work due to disabilities. She had turned to churches and St. Vincent de Paul for assistance, but still struggled to keep up. 

“I didn’t know what I was going to do,” she said. 

The kindness of a stranger eased her worries.

Milligan knew when she went home with the extra $100 she could get caught up on her entire electric bill. It was a priceless gift.

“I just can’t believe someone would do something like that for me,” Milligan said. “I was just stunned.” 

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Happiness is contagious, so throw it around like confetti as you celebrate the positive impacts your family members, friends and neighbors are making in their local communities. Email Devin Weeks at dweeks@cdapress.com to share Three Cheers for someone's good deed. It could be one person, a group, a neighborhood, a school, a business, a church.

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