Nicole June Reporting
njune@clarksvillenow.com
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – A family’s cherished memories have been saved, thanks to the simple gesture of a Good Samaritan.
Kari May and her husband Michael were at a restaurant in Clarksville on Mother’s Day when their 3-year-old daughter suggested they go to a nearby store to purchase a ring as a gift for Kari. After some debate, the parents agreed and allowed their little girl to pick out the gift for her mother.
After leaving the store, Kari noticed her camera was missing, and so the hunt began.
She contacted the businesses she had visited that day and searched her vehicle, but was unable to locate the camera, which had been a Christmas gift from her husband. While Michael was deployed, Kari had taken family photos with her cell phone, which broke some time ago. Michael bought her the camera so she wouldn’t lose photos again. Since Michael’s return, all of her family photos were located on that camera, and she was devastated.
Nicole Humphries-Thomas, who works at the store where the camera went missing, sent a message to ClarksvilleNow.com May 23 asking to post a notice about the camera, which she had found. She scrolled through some of the photos to find out who it belonged to and chose one to share via social media.
Once the post hit Facebook it exploded and was shared by over 1,200 people on ClarksvilleNow.com’s Facebook page alone. Many of those who commented
were surprised – but glad – to see someone act so selflessly to help out a fellow member of the community.
“I thought that was so weird. I was just trying to find these people so I could return their camera. I would have wanted them to do the same for me,” Humphries-Thomas said. “I was a little surprised and kind of overwhelmed that there was such a big response. It was like trying to find a neighbor.”
She received countless messages from people who knew the couple in the photo, and a short time later one of their friends sent her a phone number, and the camera was returned.
“I was expecting it to be gone forever, but I was really happy to get it back,” Kari said. “It was so nice of her to track us down.”
Kari said many of their friends called and texted to make sure they had gotten it back. She is grateful that the community rallied together to help her family save their special moments.