Senior Citizen Searches For Strangers Who Paid Her Bill At Target

NEW LENOX, IL — A local senior citizen is hoping to reconnect with a young couple who stepped in as she attempted to pay for her purchases at a Target store in New Lenox on Friday, May 10. Patricia Padula had handed over her coupons and was digging through her purse for her payment card, when she realized she couldn't find it. Flustered, she saw the line stacking up behind her.

"I usually have all my stuff together before I get up to the counter," Padula told Patch, "I was so frustrated, and saw the line started piling up behind me."

New Lenox resident Padula, 78, who relies largely on social security funds, coupons, and gift cards to pay for her purchases, was waiting for the cashier to ring up her coupons when she began chatting with the couple behind her, who had a young baby and were stocking up on formula and diapers after a sleepless night. It was just the typical chit-chat, but it took a personal turn when Padula mentioned her granddaughter is in the Navy and currently stationed in Japan. The young man had also served in the Navy, he told her, noting how proud she must be of her granddaughter. It was then she began searching for her Target Red card and couldn't find it in her purse. Before she knew it, the friendly, tired, but generous stranger had covered her purchases at a total of about $48.

"Happy Mother's Day," he modestly told Padula, who is the mother of a 51-year-old daughter and a son, 49.

"Usually people get aggravated," Padula said. "I don’t think I've ever been where anybody was that kind to me, especially when I had coupons and was taking longer. With all the bad in the world, there’s still good people."

Her daughter Michelle Padula took to a neighborhood Facebook group to applaud the strangers' act of kindness, but also in hopes of finding them.

"Thank YOU to the sweet Navy veteran and his wife who paid for my mom's items this afternoon at the Target on Route 30. Whoever you are if you are on this group you have no idea how much that touched my mom. She just called me in tears and cried the whole way home she was so moved and touched by your generosity," Michelle wrote.

The couple's ties to the Navy also touched Michelle, she said, as her daughter Rachel has been stationed overseas since August 2017. They keep in touch mostly via FaceTime and Rachel returned home for Christmas 2018, but it's not the same for Padula.

"Rachel lived with my mom for a year before she went into the Navy so my mom really misses her," Michelle said.

Rachel will love that a fellow sailor helped her grandmother, she added, and she knows how deeply moved Padula was by the act.

"In general many people get irritated with seniors for not moving fast enough in the stores and taking longer in line and the fact this young man didn’t lose his patience even though he was tired, and instead helped her out really made her feel like there is still some humanity left," Michelle said. "It means the world to her! She has been so sensitive to all the negative and horrible things in the news lately and to see so much hatred going on to have a total stranger like this and someone so young be so kind to her really touched her."

Padula noticed the couple got into a dark SUV with a kayak or canoe strapped to the top. She noted they headed separate directions on Schoolhouse Road, with the couple turning northbound.

"It was so nice, if I could find out who they are, I would like to at least send them something like a Target giftcard so they can buy some more formula and diapers," she said.

"That never happened to me before," she said, of the random act of kindness. "I feel so honored."

Do you think you might know this couple? Email newlenox@patch.com to help connect Padula with the kind strangers.