Excerpted from the Times Union, December 21, 2016
Nearly $2,000 in donations has poured in from dozens of people for the Ruby Tuesday server whose wrapped Christmas presents she bought for family members after working extra shifts were stolen from her car in the Crossgates Mall parking lot last week.
What began as an upsetting episode turned into a happy ending that revived the holiday spirit and underscored the kindness of strangers for Cydney Palmatier, 20, a junior education major at The College of Saint Rose.