From bad manners to good deed
Some bad manners at a Niagara Falls restaurant led to a good deed that will help a local charity.
On Monday, Kelsey’s on Clifton Hill received a hand-written letter from a boy apologizing for the way he acted at the establishment.
The unknown customer did not leave a return address, but included two $10 bills.
“Dear Kelsey’s, I have made $20 doing chores around my house to pay for the bad manners I had while at your restaurant. Sorry, Colin,” read the letter.
The Clifton Hill – Niagara Falls Fun Facebook page shared a picture of the letter and the money.
“Awesome parenting from an unknown customer with no return address,” said the Facebook post.
“Whoever you are, we are donating this money to Project SHARE of Niagara Falls and matching your donation. Many blessings to you.”
The post received about 3,100 reactions, 1,300 shares and more than 150 comments.
The Kelsey’s Restaurant Clifton Hill Facebook page also shared a picture of the letter and the money.
“How amazing is this? We received this letter today from Colin. His parents sent it off in the mail with no full name or return address, but we were very touched … Apology accepted, little man! lol (with a heart emoji).”
Harry Oakes, who owns the Kelsey’s location and other businesses on the south side of Clifton Hill, said staff was “impressed” with the gesture.
He said that particular restaurant is “by far” the busiest in the Kelsey’s system across the province.
“Of all the Kelsey’s in Ontario, it’s the No. 1 store. We deal with thousands and thousands of people, and I think out of that they’re going to get some trouble experiences, and they kind of appreciate that when somebody goes an extra step to kind of apologize.”
David Allen, food and beverage director for HOCO Ltd., said the restaurant has no recollection of what bad manners the customer was referring to.
“We’ve had kids colour on the walls, tear up the menus, carve their name in the table with a knife, stab the chairs with a fork,” he said.
“Maybe he just didn’t say thank you at the right time; I have no idea.”
Allen said the letter and the donation brought a smile to all the managers and his friends who are in the restaurant industry who he shared the story with.
“We didn’t really know what to do with the money because we don’t know what the kid did, or if it was specific to a server or what,” he said.
“We didn’t have any of contacting the child to get further information, so we just thought … We’re going to pass it along to Project SHARE and go from there. The managers are going to match the donations as well, so we’re going to make the donation $200 to Project SHARE in Colin’s name.”
Pam Sharp, director of community engagement for Project SHARE, said the local food bank is thankful for the donation, adding it was “moved” by the story.
“Kelsey’s has always been a wonderful community partner to Project SHARE and just held an event in support of our agency this past spring,” she said.
“Summer is a slower time for donations to our agency, so the (money) will certainly help us to provide emergency food to the growing number of families who rely on us in our community.”
Sharp said currently the most needed donations are fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, nut-free school snacks and new school supplies.
She said the agency is “always so moved” when they see kids who are giving.
“We see kids sometimes who will ask for donations for Project SHARE in lieu of birthday gifts, or at Christmas time we have some kids that will go and spend their money that they get from their grandparents to buy toys for kids who don’t have as much. It’s always so moving to see the kids have that giving spirit instilled in them.”