INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — When an Independence mom wanted to teach her kids the value of a dollar, the entire family ended up learning about the kindness of strangers.
It started when 7-year-old Fernanda Guerrero and her 6-year-old brother, Benjamin, told their mother they wanted a tablet.
"I have to explain to them that you have to work to get money," Tabitha Guerrero said. "If not, it ain't gonna come. It doesn't grow on trees."
The kids were encouraged to set up a lemonade stand in front of their house to earn money for the tablet.
For two hours on Sunday, they sold lemonade for 50 cents per cup.
Eventually, a stranger in a black SUV drove up to the stand.
"He said, 'Yeah, give me one cup,'" Tabitha said. "They said, 'OK, it will be 50 cents.' He handed them a $5 bill each first."
The stranger then asked the kids what they were hoping to buy with the money they earned.
After finding out about the desire for a tablet, he told them he had an iPad at home that he rarely used.
"He goes, 'You know what ... when I get back I'll go and reset it and bring it over to you guys,'" Tabitha said.
A couple hours later, the doorbell rang and the man handed her the tablet.
"I was about to cry," Fernanda said. "We were so excited to get it."
The lesson about the value of a dollar that turned into one about the kindness of strangers then provided an opportunity to embrace the importance of paying it forward.
"Now, I'm going to have then go through their toys so we can donate them to someone else and just keep moving it forward," Tabitha said.
The mom would like to thank the stranger more formally, but in her moment of shock forgot to get the man's name.
Tabitha described him as a Hispanic man in his 30s who was driving a black Chevrolet Tahoe. If you know who gave the kids the iPad, please email cat.reid@kshb.com.
