Social - December 2003

Friends bring back Christmas

From burglary to blessing

By ALICE SMITH, Staff Writer

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This was the first Christmas Lawana Morton finished up all of her shopping early.

She’d even bragged about it to her sister.

“I was completely done for the first time in my entire life,” Morton said.

But on Dec. 11, the joy she felt because of her speedy shopping turned into heartbreak.

That afternoon, Morton, a transcription clerk at Lincoln Medical Center, returned to her Will Schronce Road home after work.

She opened her front door and noticed her dog lounging on the couch. It was strange, she said, because her dogs usually stay outside.

Then she noticed the open back door.

“All of my Christmas presents that were under the tree were gone,” Morton said.

She went to the phone to call the police, and it was dead. Authorities later found that the wires had been pulled away from the house.

She estimates that 40 gifts valued at about $1,500 had been stolen.

Thieves also took her jewelry and her husband’s watch.

  “I was so heartbroken,” Morton said.

It didn’t take long for word about the break-in to spread through LMC. Morton’s sister, Kim Watson, had a big hand in that.

“We were very hurt and couldn’t believe someone would stoop that low,” Watson said.

That’s when she and her hospital co-workers decided to do something about it.

Without Morton knowing, they secretly started a collection to help with Morton’s loss.

“I came in the next day … and before the end of the day, they had brought me an envelope with $240,” Morton said.

And it didn’t stop there.

Employees soon presented Morton with another check for $250.

Watson said she didn’t expect the giving to catch on like it did.

“We just got that word out,” she said. “We didn’t have a clue they were going to do that.”

Carla Adams, who works in the cafeteria with Watson, said that’s the way the LMC staff is — caring and giving.

Some presented money on behalf of their departments, others pulled Morton aside personally.

“It’s amazing,” Morton said. “I walked around with big, red, swollen eyes for two days.”

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the break-in and theft. Neighbors reported seeing a white Dodge Intrepid in Morton’s driveway that day.

While Morton feels violated that someone rummaged through her house and took her things, she’s grateful to her co-workers for saving her holiday.

“They just kept giving and kept giving,” Morton said. “They gave me back a Christmas.”

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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