A small gesture from an elementary student made a big impact on a local senior this week.
On March 5, 12-year-old Mickaela Moore was walking home from Connaught Public School in Collingwood with her two siblings, when she came across senior Betty Macaulay who was getting out of her vehicle in her driveway.
Macaulay was juggling her dog, bag and keys while trying to get to her front door, and when Moore was passing by, she saw Macaulay drop an envelope and a card in the snow on the ground — without noticing — and walk up to her deck.
“I was confused for a couple of seconds. I couldn’t have lived with myself if I took it, so I took it back to her,” said Moore in an interview.
In the envelope was $800 — Macaulay’s rent money for that month.
“I had come from the drive thru at the bank to get the money for rent,” said Macauley in an interview. “I didn’t realize the money had fallen out of my pocket onto the ground. I heard this little girl calling me.”
“My husband and I are both on pensions so it was a substantial amount of money for us to lose. There was no way for us to get that back. I was so grateful and emotional,” she said.
The next day, Macauley called the school to make sure the student — whose name she didn’t know — was recognized for her actions.
“Other kids could have found that money and just kept walking. Her integrity and honesty just came out to me. I wanted her to know how much I appreciated it,” said Macauley.
Connaught principal Sara Jo Ottewell said it only took a short time to figure out which student to recognize, as Moore’s sister spilled the beans at school the next day.
“I told everybody. I found Mickaela and hugged her. I told her she made our day and inspired us,” said Ottewell.
Ottewell said students are regularly recognized for academic or sporting achievements, but achievements of character don’t often get the spotlight.
“Through that little deed, she impacted the trajectory of someone’s life, and that’s a big deal,” she said. “One little act makes a big difference.”