The kindness of strangers

A friend and I were having coffee at the Safeway Starbucks today(Dec. 3), enjoying time together and a conversation. A woman came up to us and asked us if we usually got together for coffee. Since this was actually the first time, we told her so. She then pulled out $10, gave it to us, and asked us to continue enjoying conversation and coffee at another time as well. What kindness!

And please believe me when I say that we will pass your kindness forward!

In today’s atmosphere of strife and division, your kind gesture was very heartwarming and much appreciated! Thank you and Merry Christmas!

Susan Hamman

Sequim

Thanks for the support

I am writing to thank everyone who gave to the Sequim Food Bank to support me in my 85-mile run on my 85th birthday (“85 miles on No. 85: Milliman running to raise funds for Sequim Food Bank,” Nov. 8, Sequim Gazette).

Thanks to Andra Smith, the Sequim Food Bank Executive Director, and to Steve Rosales, the board president of the food bank, for their willingness to say yes to my idea to run 85 miles on my birthday to raise funds for the food bank. They also provided posters that told about the run and what it was for.

Thanks to my family who came and supported me on my 85-mile journey. Thanks to my son Philip and his wife Rosaura for opening their home for those who came to support me. Thanks to my daughter Kim and her husband, Dick for their support for the 35 hours and 35 minutes of the run. And how everyone “out there” helped me immensely for my last four miles. And also to granddaughter Melissa, who drove over at 6 a.m. on Wednesday morning from Snohomish to run with me.

And to my wife, Shirley, who stayed up for 35.5 hours to make sure that I had dry clothes and hot food when I came to the motorhome for aid.

And a special thanks also to my running friends, Kevin, Steve, Gary, Mike, and Karlena and her daughter and also to Twyla for coming to run with me at midnight on Wednesday and for her husband Larry who came to run with me later in the day.

And a special feeling of gratitude to my 107-year-old friend Larue who had her caregiver Kathleen drive her out on the route to give me a loaf of banana bread at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday morning! What a boast to my morale!

And also to the many people who shouted out words of encourage to me as they drove by.

And a very special thanks to Mike Dashiell, editor of the Sequim Gazette, for the articles that he wrote about my birthday run for the Sequim Food Bank.

Thank you, thank you.

Charles “Chuck” Milliman

Sequim