Kennedy: Random acts of theft and kindness

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Tommy and Nora Cook, who are both in their 60s, scrape by on about $1,200 a month in government benefits.

Sometimes on Fridays, they comb through their Chattanooga neighborhood looking for scrap metal. Folks call them the "can people," Nora says. They use the extra cash from recycling aluminum cans to help pay their bills.

"We are Christians," Nora adds proudly. "The Lord blesses us. When we get down, he's always there to lift us up."

Even though their finances are stretched, the Cooks still find ways to help others. Tommy mows lawns for people who can't afford to pay much, and Nora serves on the benevolence committee of her church. On the day we talked, Nora asked if we knew anyone who could help a neighbor who had fallen behind on her bills and had her electricity cut off.

As a 14-year-old girl, Nora said she prayed God would help her find a good man, and she believes Tommy was heaven-sent years later to be her husband. They met in 1985 and married 31 years ago in Ringgold, Ga., she said.

Nora said Tommy was born prematurely and weighed just 3 pounds at birth. He was once employed as a dishwasher at the Chattanooga Choo Choo, Nora said, but serious health problems made it difficult for him to hold a long-term job.

The Cooks came to our attention about six weeks ago when Nora wrote a letter to the editors of the Times Free Press.

The letter was actually a message to the person who broke into their little house in November and stole Tommy's tools, which he used to repair and maintain his lawn mower. In the summer months, Tommy helps supplement the family's income by mowing grass. He charges on a sliding

scale based on a person's ability to pay. Some customers pay $20, some pay $5. If they can't pay at all, that's OK, too.

Tommy needs his tools for changing the oil in his lawnmower and for certain repairs, such as changing a broken cutting blade.

On the day of the break-in, Nora said, she had taken Tommy out to distract him from the fact that it was his deceased mother's birthday. "He gets low on his mother's birthday," she said. "He cried when his tools got stolen."

"I'm just saying to the thieves, 'You stole from a very good man that would give you the shirt on his back,'" Nora wrote in her letter.

She also noted that the couple lost a previous home to a house fire in 2009, just one payment short of paying off the mortgage. Their homeowner's insurance premium had lapsed by a few days, so they lost their house and most of their possessions.

When Nora's letter appeared in the Times Free Press, a Red Bank retiree named Randolph Otvos tracked them down and dropped off a new tool set for Tommy.

"That's pretty sick," that somebody stole the tools, said Otvos, noting he gave the couple a Craftsman tool box and an assortment of household tools.

A couple of other Times Free Press readers also offered to help.

We asked Nora if Tommy needed anything else.

"Maybe a ball-peen hammer, a [spark] plug wrench and maybe some socket wrenches," she said. " It's hard for us to replace the tools."

Mostly, she says, she just wants the tool thief to know her husband is a good man who does the best he can with what he has.

A man who honors giving, not taking.

Contact staff writer Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6645.

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