The holiday spirit: Delmont man's day filled with kind gestures from others

At 91 years old, Emidio Gallucci has seen his share of “Scrooges” during Christmastime.

But this year, Gallucci, a Delmont resident, has plenty of holiday spirit after a day running errands just kept going in his favor.

After a recent stop at Macy’s in Hempfield to find a gift for his granddaughter Madeline, Gallucci stopped at the nearby Dunkin to grab a glazed doughnut.

“The cashier said, ‘That’ll be $1.93,’ and I thought boy, they’re getting expensive,” he said. “And as I was getting my money out, a young man came over and pushed the doughnut to me and said, ‘Just take it.’ ”

Gallucci wanted to pay, “but he said, ‘That’s OK. I want you to have it,’ ” he said.

After that, Gallucci stopped at Shop’n Save to pick up a few groceries.

“When I got in line, I was behind a woman who had a whole lot of stuff in her cart,” he said. “She asked me to get in front of her because she had so many things and didn’t want me to have to stand and wait.”

Gallucci told the woman he didn’t mind waiting, but she insisted.

“I told her, ‘Today’s my lucky day,’ ” he said. “ ‘I got a free doughnut. And now you’re letting me jump ahead in line.’ ”

As Gallucci was getting ready to pay, the woman spoke up again.

“She said, ‘I’m buying your groceries,’ ” he said. “I told her, ‘No, you’re not.’ But she went over and asked the cashier for my receipt so she could pay for it.”

Gallucci said it made him feel happy to know “that there are really nice people like that who want to help others.”

“Especially now, when everything is more expensive, it’s unexpected and a very nice gesture,” he said.

Gallucci even wrote a letter to the editor, apologizing to the woman.

“Later that day, I realized my mistake — I forgot to ask that kind woman her name,” he wrote. “I hope she’ll read this.”