Community shows the spirit of Christmas is alive

I am writing this letter because of the kindness and generosity of our community. I want to show everyone there is still kindness and caring for our fellow man during these tough times — even when we question if it is there anymore. Yes, there is!

A couple weeks ago , we had our tips jars stolen from our shelves during our business hours at Frugals south. It was very disheartening and frustrating for our crew. They work hard and count on those tips to help make ends meet.

We copied the video and showed it to the police and I also put it on Facebook to warn other businesses, and especially drive thru coffee shops, to keep an eye out for this person. We haven’t heard anything back from the local police department, which I wasn’t expecting a lot because the thief covered their head very well.

To my surprise, I had a few people reshare the post and when I went on my break, there were over 100 remarks on the post. A lot of people expressed their anger and disgust how someone could do that. I even had around four people want to know approximately how much money would be in there so they could replace it.

I replied back and let them know thank you, but that’s not why the post was up there. It was meant to warn other businesses around the area and told them what a kind gesture but we would be fine.

I left a message at our windows that we were not leaving the tip jars out at this time due to theft. So if they wanted to give a cash tip to just let the cashier know. I was in shock that afternoon when I did our first go-around of tip pulls. The tips were quite a bit more than what we are used to. Also the other day we had someone leave a $200 tip and some $100 tips.

I know Frugals is very well known in this community for doing fundraisers for different nonprofit organizations, and people love that. We usually have wonderful turnouts for those from the community, which is awesome.

But this was different. The community was not happy how money was taken from my hardworking employees and how theft has become such a common thing anymore. They were mad! Needless to say, our tips have been higher than they have ever been, partially in the spirit of Christmas and partially to help my crew get there tips back.

I just want to thank the community for their generosity to my crew with the tips and reminding me and my crew there still is goodwill toward mankind and the spirit of Christmas is still alive.

— Cheryl Patterson is the general manager at Frugals in South Kalispell.