Bob Collins
If you’ve never been in the position an 80-year-old Amery, Wis., man was in earlier this month, trust me, you will be someday. Let’s hope by then someone in downtown St. Paul will notice that you’ve been looking for your car for five hours and give you a hand.
He parked it in one of St. Paul’s ubiquitous parking ramps and went to his appointment, then he couldn’t find it, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office says on its Facebook page.
He went back the next day and started looking again and still couldn’t find it.
That’s when one person in the Twin Cities stepped up.
On December 10th the Polk County Sheriff’s Department took a report from a rural Amery man regarding his vehicle being missing. The 80 year old man explained he had driven to downtown St Paul, MN on Monday, December 4th, to conduct business. He parked in a parking ramp downtown and walked several blocks to his appointment. When he returned to the parking ramp, he was unable to locate his vehicle. He spent approximately five hours searching numerous parking ramps in the area without success. Exhausted and frustrated, he secured a motel room downtown with hopes of a renewed search the next day.
On Tuesday, December 5th, he again began searching, but found himself quickly exhausted from the walking. He hailed a nearby cab and requested a ride back to his home near Amery.
That cab was from All City Cab LLC, owned by Kay Hanson of Minneapolis, MN.
The cab driver was Kay’s daughter, Sheryl Hanson. Sheryl would later explain that she knew right away the man was in need of some help. She did provide him that ride home, and spoke to him at great length during the trip. He provided her details of where he believed his car to be, and asked her if she could keep an eye out for it. She stated she would do better, and would actively search for it during her travels. He provided her the key for the car, and asked her to bring it to him if she found it.
On Monday, December 11th, at 1:00 AM, Sheryl Hanson was making a second trip through one of at least twelve parking ramps downtown she had already searched…when she spotted the vehicle. She called the owner right away, and told him she would return it that same afternoon.
At 3:00 PM, Sheryl and Kay Hanson delivered the car to him at his home. Sheryl and Kay both identify themselves as Christian women who know God works in our lives at all times. Sheryl stated she prayed for God to use her to help this man in his time of need…and although she had already been in that particular ramp, she made a second trip. Sheryl was as pleased to return the car, as the owner was to get it back.
Merry Christmas…from the Polk County Sheriff’s Department.
Let’s see your Uber driver beat that.
There’s no indication how much it cost to get his car out of the parking ramp after a week.
(h/t: Nancy Yang)
