Angel Walks Through the World - Reader's Digest (Essentials Edition III) (The World's Best-Selling Classic Masterpieces)

Author: Dongfang Xiao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: The Gift of an Angel As the New Year approached, postal worker Denise Rossi was reading all the letters sent to Santa Claus when she discovered that only one child, John Vangie, aged 10, had not asked for a gift for himself in his letter. The letter read: "Dear Santa Claus, the only gift I want is an electric wheelchair for my mom. She can't walk and doesn't have the strength in her hands anymore. She can no longer use the hand-cranked wheelchair donated by a charity two years ago. I really hope she can go outside to watch me play! Can you fulfill my wish? Love your John Vangie." Rossi couldn't help but tear up after reading the letter. She immediately decided to help John Vangie and his mother, Victoria Cosley, who was 39 and lived in Banning City. So, she picked up the phone, and then a miraculous story began. She first called a wheelchair supplier store named "Move Free" in Redlands, California. The store's general manager, Steve Miranda, then contacted the wheelchair manufacturer in Buffalo, New York—the company named Foc. The company immediately decided to donate an electric wheelchair, which would be delivered by Thursday, and even tied a red ribbon with a Christmas gift bow on the wheelchair. Clearly, they were supporters of Santa Claus. On Friday, this $3,000 wheelchair was delivered to the small apartment where John and his mother lived, with over a dozen journalists and people coming to offer blessings in attendance. John's mother cried. She said, "This has been the best Christmas I've ever had. From now on, I won't be confined to the house all day." Both she and her son were disabled in a car accident in 1981. Due to her broken vertebrae, she had to be helped onto the new, gray and white wheelchair to test it in the nearby parking lot. A representative from Foc, who donated the wheelchair, said, "This is a child who thinks only of his mother, not just himself. We felt we should do something for him. Sometimes, money isn't everything." The postal worker also gave them food, as well as gifts like a microscope, a jet plane model, and an electronic game console. John put some of the food in a box and wrapped it to give to his neighbors downstairs. To this, John explained, "Giving things to those who need them makes us happy. Mom said we should always do this. Maybe angels are like this when they test people." P3-4