The news these days is often depressing at worst and frustrating at best. It’s easy to get caught up in the spin cycle and let it get us down. Never fear… The News Blender has you covered. Once a week, we feature Something Good and, in return, all you have to do is tell us something good that has happened to you this week, something you are thankful for, a joke, a cute animal story, an inspiring tale of heroics, a Random Act of Kindness… SOMETHING good.
Today’s Something Good is taking lemons and turning them into lemonade for others.
Tyler and Melanie Tapajna, Ohio newlyweds, had a big do planned for their August wedding. 150 guests at a catered reception with DJs and the whole nine yards. Then the pandemic hit and they had to figure out what to do with their reception plans. What they did was a bit extraordinary…
They choose to have a small backyard wedding, in keeping with safety measures, and donate their reception food from Betty’s Bomb Ass Burgers to Laura’s Home, a shelter for women and children in Cleveland. But they didn’t just donate the food, they served it as well.
A short time after saying their vows, they headed to the shelter for their reception. Laura wore her wedding dress and Tyler wore his tuxedo, they donned face masks and hair nets and served fried chicken, mac and cheese, green beans, and dessert to 135 guests at the shelter.
Rich Trickel, CEO of The City Mission which runs Laura’s Home, said the Mission had never experienced such a thing. And neither had many of the clients served that day. “It was really unbelievable especially when you think of many of our clients, the women and kids that are in our building, possibly have never been at a wedding like that before,” Trickle told CNN.
The couple hopes their donation helps other couples who have had their weddings upended be inspired to give to those in need.
Melanie said, “It was really either have the big wedding or donate the food. We were actually kind of excited I think more about donating the food than being stressed during the wedding.”
She told Yahoo that she felt like a princess at her reception. “I have never been told that I was beautiful as much as I had that day. The little girls loved seeing my dress.”
Melanie said, “Covid may have cancelled our original plans, but God gave us so much more today.” What a great attitude on a day that could have been a terrible disappointment but instead was a huge blessing to so many.
Now it’s your turn… Tell us something good that happened to you this week!
