A Secret Gift
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The author's grandfather, Sam Stone, placed an ad in the Canton, OH, newspaper shortly before Christmas in 1933, offering cash gifts to seventy-five families in distress. Readers were asked to send letters describing their hardships to a benefactor calling himself Mr. B. Virdot. The author investigates
… More »The author's grandfather, Sam Stone, placed an ad in the Canton, OH, newspaper shortly before Christmas in 1933, offering cash gifts to seventy-five families in distress. Readers were asked to send letters describing their hardships to a benefactor calling himself Mr. B. Virdot. The author investigates a suitcase full of letters responding to these ads as he learns more about his grandfather's hidden past as well as the suffering and triumphs of strangers during the Great Depression
« Lesshow one man's kindness - and a trove of letters - revealed the hidden history of the Great Depression
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Add a CommentA very interesting concept. Especially in these days and times. I love the message. Sometimes a bit dry. I felt a bit like a voyeur reading about people's lives. A mildly interesting read.
Ted is given a suitcase by his mother because he is interested in family history. What he finds inside is a family secret that has been kept for almost 80 years and will take Ted on the journey of a lifetime to find the answers to this puzzle - why would his grandfather secretly give money to the most needy of his neighbors during the Christmas season of 1933? Each of the people who received his gift, was promised anonymity in his/her lifetime. What happened to these desperate but hopeful families during a period in our recent history that found unemployment levels rise and banks fail seems to mirror our times as well.