MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It’s been a series of unfortunate events for Laura Hunter.
In November, WREG Investigators first introduced you to the 74-year-old.
She was using a motorized wheelchair to get on and off MATA buses to get to the grocery store. A three-mile journey was taking her six hours round trip.
ORIGINAL STORY: Why a 3-mile trip to the grocery on a MATA bus
Last month, her journey got even harder when someone stole her wheelchair. It was left in the driveway when the battery died. Her great-grandson carried Hunter up to the home first.
When he came back 15 minutes later, it was gone. Hunter filed a police report, but no word if there have been any arrests.
“It was a rough patch, but good things happened behind it,” Hunter said.
Tim Wheat, the co-director of Disability Connection Midsouth, saw our stories.
“We help people with disabilities live independently in the community,” Wheat said. “We had a unique donation of wheelchairs. We provided those to other members in the community, and we had one at the office. That one.”
Several WREG viewers, including Wheat, reached out to help. Hunter’s former employer is working to get her better housing.
On Thursday morning, Wheat donated a new motorized chair to Hunter.
“This is very nice. I love it!” Hunter said with a big smile as she sat in it. “I am very happy. Very happy.”
A new chair was going to cost more than Hunter’s income.
“This is really, it’s just like a right arm or right hand for me. It’s a way to get around in the store and different things like that,” she said.
Hunter can now do that once again.
“It is just like Christmas when I was a kid. That’s the way I feel in my heart,” she said.
Hunter said this restored her faith in humanity.
“Thank you, sir and everybody who’s involved. Thank you,” she said.
When we met her, she told us the good in people will always prevail. This moment was a reminder she was right.