A nine-year-old boy was so shocked by the Tucson shootings that he sold off some of his toys at school to raise $2.85 for injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Isaac Saldana put the money in an envelope with a ‘get well soon’ card and posted it to the recovering politician. His mother, Aracely Saldana, had no idea that her son had done it until his teachers said he had been selling his possessions.
The boy, who lives in Tucson, Arizona, where six people were killed in the shootings, sold the toys along with a bracelet his father had given him when he was deployed with the U.S. marines. Nine-year-old Isaac said: ‘Me and my brother were about to go walk the dog when we saw them saying on TV that a little girl and Gabrielle Giffords got shot. I just thought, whoa! I didn't know that people carry around guns here in Tucson. It scared me a little.
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‘I felt really bad about Gabrielle being in the hospital and getting shot, so I just wanted to help her.’ His 30-year-old mother, who has two other children, said: ‘I didn't even know what was going on. ‘I received an email from his teacher saying she just wanted to give me a heads-up that she caught him in class selling toys, so she took his backpack away later that day.
‘I asked him what was going on and he told me the reason he was doing it was that he was trying to raise money to send to Gabrielle. For him to go out of his way risk getting in trouble to do a good thing – that was just awesome. I was crying. I am extremely proud of my children.’ Gabrielle Giffords’ husband Mark Kelly has promised to get the boy his money back – but nine-year-old Isaac said: ‘I don’t really want it back. I think she needs it.’
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