WINSLOW (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- For 95 year old Marie Pelotte—known as Memere… this fall harvest means more than most. It’s born from the kindness of strangers.
Memere and her granddaughter Kathy visited their plots at the Winslow Community Gardens Saturday.
Memere said, "We thought everything was coming up good. But when we went down the first time there, everything was gone."
Instead of finding bounty—their gardens were barren…picked clean by thieves.
Kathy Violette says "Someone had stolen Gram's vegetables. It was something her and I do in the summertime it let's us spend time together."
Their garden has been hit twice before. On Monday morning, Kathy took to the Winslow Community Watch page on Facebook to vent.
Memere says, "I posted it to create awareness and to say that wasn't really nice of the perpetrator.
And on the other side of the screen…Winslow residents were LISTENING. Dozens of comments and shares….Fellow gardener Sandy Gard said she had to help.
Gard said, "I seen the post and I read it, I felt so terrible bad. And I thought hey I got my veggies. My daughter in law, my son, and many other people donated some, so here we are.
Kathy and Memere said they're stunned by the generosity.
"I'm just so proud of Winslow, so proud of the people that live here", Violette said.
Memere planned to share her harvest with all of her friends in her nursing home….so that THEY TOO can get a TASTE of the community’s kindness.
"I know that they'll make a nice big salad so everyone can have some," Memere said.