Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz is well known for their famous beach boardwalk. With a carnival atmosphere and fun for the entire family, there was little chance that someone would not go home without having a good time. And to make sure of that, one little old man would sit on the bench near the Looff Carousel and look for that one person who appeared to need a dose of “happy.”

Henry Higgins was known only by the few people he had helped. He grew up in Santa Cruz and became independently wealthy from starting a restaurant back in the 1950’s. With the combination of the popularity of the boardwalk, and the great reviews of his restaurant, his business never saw a loss in its existence. Henry ended up selling the business back in 2000 so he could focus on caring for his sick wife. She ended up passing away later that same year. Ever

since, Henry has made it a point to just make people happy. He only asked one favor in return –do not tell anyone about his favors. In other words, Henry wanted to remain anonymous.

There is one story of a family that was at the boardwalk for their son’s birthday. Henry overheard the father telling his wife that he had been laid off from the factory and this may be the only fun the family would have for a while. Henry gave them ten-thousand dollars right there on the spot. It turned out that the father would find another job rather quickly and did not need the money after all. He tried to return it to Henry who told him to keep it and pass it forward to someone else in need. The father did find another family that needed it. Now, without hardly trying, Henry had helped two families.

Another story is of a child that had just purchased an ice cream cone. She turned from the stand and her ice cream fell off her cone onto the hot pavement. Henry saw what happened and bought her another cone.

Whether the favor was big or a small, Henry was always willing to help.

On this day, Henry was in his typical spot on the bench near the carousel people watching. He was looking for his next family that he could help. It did not take long for him to spot his next target.

Henry’s reputation was widely known, even though he asked that he stayed anonymous. Somehow, people would always find out about his generosity. So, one rule he always had was never give money to people that ask for it. Henry wanted to find the families himself.

Your turn. Finish the story: