We tell our students that life happens sometimes. Society is not perfect and while setbacks seem catastrophic at first…they are very rarely the end of the world. Problems often come with solutions simpler than we initially realize. Amy learned that lesson in a very satisfying way this summer on the date of Thursday, August 4, 2022, when it was discovered that someone had hacked into her credit card in another state to steal at least $200.00. (Yikes!) The only clue she had was the first or last name of the perpetrator which may not have been real! Amy was personally escorted to the local Citizens Bank branch by her Activities Coordinator who also helps her with recycling cans/bottles for extra cash. Fortunately, it turns out that the money that was stolen had already been replenished by the credit card company thanks to fraud protection. All was well with the world again. But Amy was worried this person would just do the same thing to someone else so we listened to the bank teller’s suggestion that we file a police report.

Amy and her staff made the short drive to the police station on Western Avenue where she was offered assistance with talking to the officer filling out the paperwork for her case. Staff warned Amy that the culprit may not be caught because time and resources are not always dedicated toward pursuing someone who steals only $200.00, especially if there was no surveillance footage at any local store with the cash already having been restored. On the other hand, what goes often comes around at some point with people who choose to make a living by committing such crimes.

Amy did quite well with maintaining her composure despite being obviously shaken up by what happened. In the end, it was a good learning experience that we cannot always control what happens to us, but we are able to control how we react. We teach our students we can take the steps to avoid being a victim if we are affected by scams such as Catfishing and Phishing (a.k.a. inadvertently writing our personal information on an imitation web page). We are proud of Amy for doing the right thing. In the end, we met a very kind member of the community named Officer Carpenter. We have taken the liberty of posting a photo of this helpful individual with his consent and a very happy-looking Amy considering she got all her money back!