The photo above is from an unexpected followup to a recent West Seattle Crime Watch reader report. At right is Yzzy, whose mom Alex reported a smash-and-grab during their regular Saturday morning Morgan Junction coffee run – taken from the wheel well was a special World War II aviation-themed bag that Yzzy cherished. At left in the photo is Deb, who had read the report and subsequently e-mailed to say:

I work at Vulcan (Paul Allen’s company) and we have a WWII museum, Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum in Everett. I reached out to our team there and they have come through with a gift bag for Alex’s daughter (see photo). We hope this gift bag, including 4 passes to the museum, will brighten her day and reaffirm there are good folks out here in the world!

So we connected them, and requested a followup report, which Alex sent after their Saturday morning meetup. If you recognize Yzzy, her mom explains why:

Yzzy was so happy with all the gifts from the Vulcan folks. Deb was wonderful – one of those people that really listen & talk with & connect with younger folks. It just filled my heart up to watch them chat. I made a connection with a West Side neighbor as well – something that is hard for me, as I’m not much of a people person. Deb even recognized Yz from the Blog posts of bake sales for disaster relief over the years – and offered to help bake for the next fundraiser. We talked about Yzzy’s love of WWII planes, her great-grandfather being part of the 82nd airborne & the Market Garden operation. (Ever see “A Bridge Too Far”?) Deb told us about all the things Vulcan does and the WWII ship recently discovered by their endeavors (of course – Yzzy knew the name & that it had been part of the Midway operation). We’re planning a family trip up to the Everett Flying Heritage Museum in a month or two & promised to take pics & let Deb know about that adventure. The negative of the smash & grab turned around into such a positive! An affirmation of our wonderful West Seattle community. Thank you Deb. Thank you Vulcan. Thank you West Seattle Blog.

And a few words from Yzzy herself:

When I got my bag stolen, I was kind of in shock. Since I had never had that sort of thing happen to me before, I didn’t know how to react. When my mom told me about Deb & Vulcan, I couldn’t be happier! Knowing that someone, and their co-workers, went out of their way to do this for me, makes me want to do this sort of thing when I grow up.

(As her mom mentioned – and as we have covered over the years – Yzzy’s giving nature already is in evidence.)