This is one of those situations where it isn’t exactly a “tease”, but I also can’t use names because it was an incredibly kind and generous gesture, but the individual does not wish to be identified for what will become apparent reasons. I heard about it not long ago and in a time when there’s a lot of bad news, a heartwarming story is nice to share.

Although Homestead has grown significantly in the past ten years, it is still a small town in many ways and unlike some of the communities to the north of us, this is not the place of many multi-million dollar homes. There is a very active youth soccer league thanks to a great number of dedicated volunteers who give of their time. A couple of years ago, one of the teams won whatever the category was they were in that would allow them to compete in a championship out in California. The kids were thrilled, but realistic. Airfare for the team of 12, plus coaches, and chaperones was simply too much to ask of their sponsors and that’s not the sort of money you can raise with car washes.

One of the volunteers had a connection with a major airline and thought – Hey, why not ask? Not surprisingly, the answer was, “We’re sorry, but with the volume of requests that we receive, we have a policy to not provide free airfare for these projects,” (or something along those lines). You can understand that position – how do you say yes to some and no to others? However, a senior individual became aware of the situation and while in total agreement with the policy, the individual said that taking care of the request as a private person was permitted. That’s right – this individual promised to cover the whole cost of airfare if the team could manage the rest of their expenses. That part was doable and no, Disney didn’t write this story so the team didn’t win the championship. They did go to California, however, and had a great experience.