Norfolk woman giving away her engagement and wedding rings to one fortunate couple
Giveaway asks people to write why they deserve the jewelry
In the past year, Christine Bonavita has had plenty of time to reflect.
Last January, her divorce officially went through. Then the pandemic struck.
The 39-year-old Ghent resident and insurance agent had already been mulling what to do with her engagement and wedding rings. Well-meaning friends had suggestions.
Some told her to pawn them. Save them for your daughters, others encouraged. (She has two, ages 6 and 8.) Just throw them in the ocean, was another suggestion.
Instead, Bonavita decided to give them away. With the coronavirus placing burdens on so many people, financial and otherwise, it just felt right, she said.
“I spent a whole year thinking about what I wanted to do,” she said. “They’re beautiful rings, and I know with the year we’ve all had ... it would make me happy and give me more peace to give it to someone who otherwise might not have a ring at all.”
So last week Bonavita posted on Facebook announcing the giveaway, soliciting a lucky couple who can tell her why they deserve the rings.
She’s already received several
“... I’ve always been fortunate enough to have people in my life help me. I want to pay it forward. People can just use a little bit of kindness.” — Christine Bonavita
dozen submissions, mostly from Hampton Roads but also as far as England. Two are service members who want to surprise significant others.
Bonavita said she’s not looking for any particular person or story. She wants to keep an open mind and she’ll ship anywhere, though she’d love to deliver the jewelry in person.
But “when that story comes in I’m going to read it and I’m going to know in my heart that it’s right.”
The rings, size 9, are worth more than $3,500 combined, according to her Facebook post. Both set in 14-karat white gold, the engagement ring is 1 carat with three diamond stones and the wedding ring is a fourth of a carat.
After she told her ex-husband, a disabled combat veteran who bought the rings in 2010, of the plan, he decided to add his wedding band to the giveaway as well, Bonavita said, completing the set.
She’s asking people who want to apply to submit a short statement about “how you have or will overcome 2020s obstacles with hope, love, faith, laughter ... and marry the one you love.”
She’ll notify the winners on Valentine’s Day. Preference goes to first responders, minorities, those in the LGBT community and people with disabilities, she added.
Bonavita said she’s had her own struggles in life, including a childhood spent in foster care until being adopted at age 6.
“Through all that I’ve always been fortunate enough to have people in my life help me,” she said. “I want to pay it forward. People can just use a little bit of kindness.”