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Speaker 1: Hello, friends, Welcome to Story Behind podcast. This is the

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Speaker 1: show for people who love hearing a good story and

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Speaker 1: who believe the world could use more positivity. We're the

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Speaker 1: team behind God Updates and God Too, and we hope

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Speaker 1: these weekly short stories will brighten your day.

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Speaker 2: Boy heartbroken over lost Pokemon collection gets fifteen thousand cards

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Speaker 2: from airline staff. Written by The Wriggleman, read by Julie Provost.

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Speaker 2: Sweet little boy was heartbroken over his lost Pokemon collection

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Speaker 2: that got fifteen thousand cards from airline staff. Sometimes what

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Speaker 2: seems like a small thing to one person can feel

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Speaker 2: like the whole world to someone else. When seven year

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Speaker 2: old Read lost his beloved binder of Pokemon cards at

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Speaker 2: Denver International Airport, his heart broke. The binder held a

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Speaker 2: collection he had carefully built, card by card, treasure by treasure.

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Speaker 2: To many adults, a stack of trading cards might not

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Speaker 2: seem like much, but for Read, those car cards weren't

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Speaker 2: just paper. They were memories, excitement, pride, and joy, all

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Speaker 2: talked neatly into that one binder. His dad shared the

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Speaker 2: story online, hoping someone might have found the lost collection,

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Speaker 2: but despite airport employees and strangers searching high and low,

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Speaker 2: the binder never turned up. What happened next, however, turned

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Speaker 2: heartbreak into something extraordinary. Employees from United Airlines saw the

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Speaker 2: story and felt moved to help. Words spread among staff members,

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Speaker 2: and something beautiful began to happen. Employees started donating their

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Speaker 2: own Pokemon cards to replace the ones Red had lost,

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Speaker 2: and they didn't just send a few. Cards began arriving

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Speaker 2: from all over, from employees across the country and even

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Speaker 2: across the world. When Read and his family arrived back

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Speaker 2: at the airport, expecting perhaps a thousand cards, they were stunned.

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Speaker 2: More than fifteen thousand Pokemon cards had been collected. Boxes

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Speaker 2: and binders of cards weighing nearly ninety pounds were presented

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Speaker 2: to the wide eyed seven year old. Some were even

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Speaker 2: common cards, others were rare collectibles the people had once

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Speaker 2: cherished themselves. Many donors included handwritten notes explaining why a

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Speaker 2: certain and card meant something special to them and why

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Speaker 2: they wanted Read to have it now. Reid was thrilled,

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Speaker 2: his parents were in tears because the gift wasn't just

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Speaker 2: about cards, It was about kindness. Stories like this remind

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Speaker 2: us of the power of small acts of compassion. A

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Speaker 2: simple card, a handwritten node, a stranger choosing to care.

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Speaker 2: Those little things carry enormous weight, especially for a child

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Speaker 2: whose world was turned upside down by losing someone he loved.

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Speaker 2: I understand that kind of feeling deeply because I have

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Speaker 2: a brother with special needs who collects things like Pokemon

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Speaker 2: cards too. When something like this is lost, it can

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Speaker 2: feel like the ground has shifted beneath their feet. What

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Speaker 2: might seem silly or insignificant to others can feel like

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Speaker 2: everything to them. And that's why this story touches my

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Speaker 2: heart so deeply. Now Reid's collection is bigger than ever,

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Speaker 2: and he's already began sharing the joy with others. He

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Speaker 2: recently hosted a trading party for his classmates and gave

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Speaker 2: each of them a bag filled with cards to play with.

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Speaker 2: His family plans had done it even more so he

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Speaker 2: can learn what it means to pass kindness forward. And

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Speaker 2: maybe that's the most beautiful part of the story. One

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Speaker 2: loss Binder sparked thousands of small acts of generosity, and

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Speaker 2: now that kindness is spreading even further, Because sometimes the

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Speaker 2: smallest things like a card, a note, a moment of compassion,

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Speaker 2: can change someone's entire world. But It's not love with

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Speaker 2: words or speech, but with actions and in truth. First

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Speaker 2: John three point eighteen. After losing his girlfriend in a

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Speaker 2: DUI crash, young man opens coffee shop to honor her memory.

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Speaker 2: Written by MICHAELA. Go Johnnie, read by Juley Provost. One

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Speaker 2: young man in Long Beach, California is turning grief into

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Speaker 2: purpose with his new venture. He recently opened a cafe

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Speaker 2: in honor of his late girlfriend, Rainnie, and he's also

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Speaker 2: helping others heal from their grief with every cup of coffee.

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Speaker 2: In twenty twenty two, Tommy Lee was driving home one

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Speaker 2: night with Rainie in his passenger seat when they were

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Speaker 2: hit head on by a drunk driver. Rainie passed away

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Speaker 2: in Tommy's arms within seconds. They had met in a

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Speaker 2: coffee shop the year before. She was studying to be

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Speaker 2: a nurse and he was a college dropout working as

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Speaker 2: a barista. Rennie always wanted me to pursue what made

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Speaker 2: me happy, Tommy said. She was everything to me. But

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Speaker 2: I didn't want a sob story. I wanted to actually

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Speaker 2: build something because it means a lot to me, he said.

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Speaker 2: In the last three years, he created a business plan

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Speaker 2: for Rainney's place, a Filipino Vietnamese coffee shop. He struggled

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Speaker 2: to get a loan for his shop until his friends

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Speaker 2: launched a crowdfunding campaign for him. Rennie was looking out

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Speaker 2: for me, and she knew I was ready and that

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Speaker 2: time was finally here. Tommy said. His new shop is

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Speaker 2: still under construction, but a local gallery has let him

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Speaker 2: set up shop temporarily. We move a little bit slower

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Speaker 2: here intentionally because we want to actually get to know you.

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Speaker 2: That's why I'm at Rennie, he said. A drink is

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Speaker 2: named after Rennie, and the customers can write Rennie checks

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Speaker 2: notes to love ones who have passed. Rennie's sister said,

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Speaker 2: my sister loved being the center of attention, led in

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Speaker 2: the room type of thing, and the fact that she's

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Speaker 2: still doing that somehow is very telling of the person

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Speaker 2: she was. It's been the most gratifying feeling to and

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Speaker 2: not only share this loss about Rannie with her as

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Speaker 2: she lives and breathe in the space, but the countless

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Speaker 2: other people who have shared in that with me. Tommy said,

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Speaker 2: we built this place because of love. We continue building

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Speaker 2: it because of love, and every single cop that passes

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Speaker 2: through our hands is a reminder that the people we

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Speaker 2: cherish deserve to be cherished while they're here. This is

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Speaker 2: such a beautiful story of grief and purpose. Rennie was

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Speaker 2: fortunate enough to have a loving boyfriend and support a

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Speaker 2: family while she was alive, and they're blessed to have

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Speaker 2: known her.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to Story Behind podcast.

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Speaker 1: We're really glad you joined us for this week's story.

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Speaker 1: To see photos and videos that may have been referenced

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Speaker 1: in this episode, check out the links and the show notes,

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Speaker 1: and if you enjoyed what you heard today, subscribe to

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Speaker 1: our podcast and please tell a friend about us. We'd

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Speaker 1: Story Behind is a Salem Web Network production m