A Happy Ending Saab Story

Stranger pays for local woman’s pricey SAAB repair

It started as Saab story. “Yes, this is a Saab story — with a happy ending,” Centhia Fleming said and smiled. Fleming is a social worker and single mother of two from Battle Creek.

A happy ending, she said, thanks to a stranger who reached out to help her. Centhia Fleming’s 2009 Saab 9-7x, with 109,000 miles, had a problem — something to do with the steering, she was told. Other mechanics couldn’t pin it down, so she drove it on Thursday from her home in Battle Creek to Fox Saab in Grand Rapids. They told her it wasn’t safe to drive. “They said it was a transfer case,” Fleming said. And they gave her a price: more than $800.

A Good Samaritan in Grand Rapids, Michigan (USA) gave one single mom a very happy new year. Fleming had recently lost one of her jobs as a visiting social worker and had spent everything on Christmas for her two young children.

Amy Kornoelje was there to get her son’s headlight fixed and overheard Fleming making phone calls to borrow the money. She said, “I said I don’t know her story, I don’t know what it is, but we’re all here on this earth, and I feel like I need to help her out.” Centhia added, “I cried, it was tears of joy of course, but I cried like a little baby.” The dealership cut the bill, almost in half, and Kornoelje paid the 430 dollar balance.

Dewey Anderson, the service consultant said, “[The other customer] said, ‘I will take care of her bill.’ So I was like in shock. I said, ‘You mean you’re going to pay her bill?’ She said, ‘Yea.’ She took care of it. I went back and told her.” Anderson said he’s never seen this kind of generosity in his 50 years on the job.

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