Rhode Island, contractor Donald Thela finally decided to hang up his hammer after 50 years and retired about six months ago. Over the years, he’d built up quite a collection of tools and materials that he’d been trying to sell in recent months to help fund the final years of his life. The tools were valued at about 50 grand!
But when Thela saw a story on the news about Juan Carlos Morales and how he’d lost all his tools when someone stole his work van from a Lowe’s parking lot, he had a better idea of what to do with some of his old tools: he’d donate them to Morales. “Well, I got a lot of tools that I’m not going to sell. He might as well have them,” Thela explains. “A terrible thing to lose a truck with everything in it.”
Since thieves ran off with Morales’ van, he’s been forced to cancel all the jobs he had lined up and wasn’t sure how he’d be able to get back to working. But now with the donated tools from Thela, he can return to work. And it’s restored some faith in humanity for Morales, too. “I’m happy because around me has been a lot of good people,” Morales says. “That makes me happy because they helped me a lot.”
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