A nine-year-old Arizona boy, after hearing about his hometown’s recent shootings, felt he needed to do something to help.
On his way out the door with his brother, Isaac Saldana of Tucson, Arizona, heard reporters on TV say a little girl and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords had been shot, and he couldn’t believe it.
“I just thought, whoa! I didn’t know that people carry around guns here in Tucson,” said Isaac. “It scared me a little.”
Getting the idea to help by raising money, Isaac decided to sell a number of his toys and even a bracelet his U.S. Marine father gave to him after returning from one of his deployments.
Not knowing his plan, Isaac’s mother, Aracely Saldana, 30, was surprised when she received a message from her son’s teacher. Isaac raised $2.85 selling his things, put it in an envelope with a “Get Well Soon” card, and mailed it before his mother even got the chance to ask him about the teacher’s e-mail.
“I didn’t even know what was going on. I received an e-mail from his teacher saying she just wanted to give me a heads-up that she caught him in class selling toys, so she took his backpack away later that day. I asked him what was going on and he told me the reason he was doing it was that he was trying to raise money to send to Gabrielle.”” she told the Huffington Post.
Immediately, Saldana said, she began to cry. “For him to go out of his way, [to] risk getting in trouble, [to] do a good thing—that was just awesome,” she said. “I am extremely proud of my children.”
Friday, after making remarkable progress after being shot in the head, Giffords’ is being transferred to a rehab. center.
When told about Isaac’s donation, Mark Kelly, Giffords husband, said he planned to “get Saldana his lunch money back.”
Isaac has already said he won’t take it back, saying, “I think she needs it.”
