From KCRA

After a California couple called off their wedding, the bride-to-be’s family decided to turn the $35,000 extravagant event into a feast for the homeless.

The bride’s mother, Kari Duane, said Sunday that rather than cancel the reception, they invited Sacramento’s homeless for a once in a lifetime meal Saturday at the Citizen Hotel, one of the city’s finest venues.

Duane said her 27-year-old daughter called her Monday to tell her she and her fiance had decided not go through with the wedding. Soon after, the family decided to share the nonrefundable event with the less fortunate.

“Even though my husband and I were feeling very sad for our daughter, it was heartwarming to see so many people be there and enjoy a meal,” Duane said.

She said they had already paid for a reception that would have hosted 120 guests. About 90 homeless single people, grandparents and whole families with newborns showed up and enjoyed a meal that included appetizers, salad, gnocchi, salmon, and even tri-tip. Some even dressed up for the occasion.

Erika Craycraft arrived with her husband and five children.

“To lose out on something so important to yourself and then give it to someone else is really giving, really kind,” Craycraft told KCRA-TV.

Part of the wedding price tag includes a nonrefundable honeymoon, so on Sunday mother and daughter set off for Belize.

“I hope that when she looks back at this, she knows she was doing something good with a bad situation,” Duane said.

A heartwarming story about a woman who has been waving to school kids for five years…

From King5 News in Seattle:

A warmth radiates from school bus No. 7 on Carol Mitzelfeld’s chilly morning route in Arlington. She knows all 90 of her students by name. There is a comfort and familiarity here that radiates well beyond the steamy windows of her bus — all the way to a woman known as “the grandma in the window.”

She is a 93-year-old lady who has been waving to the kids on the bus from her dining room window every school day for five years. The kids feel like she’s a part of the family and always wave back.

“Carol was telling us that a lot of times she doesn’t remember her daughter’s name, but she always remembers to wave to the kids on the bus,” said 7th grader Axtin Bandewerfhorst. “That made me feel really special.”

But one day a few weeks ago, the window was empty. And the next day. And the next, as well.

Mitzelfeld found out grandma had suffered a stroke.

“It was kind of heartbreaking because she was always there,” said Bandewerfhorst.

It turns out, grandma’s name is Louise Edlen. She has 30 grandchildren, 23 great grandchildren, and she’s been married to her husband Dave for 53 years. Dave Edlen has spent the past three weeks holding his wife’s hand at a rehabilitation center while she recovers.

“She’s a very special lady,” he said.

When Mitzelfeld found out about Lousie Edlen’s stroke, she brought Edlen a bouquet of flowers.

The next day, a sign appeared in the dining room window that simply read, “Thank You.”

“That made me really smile,” said 10th grader Cheyanne Holt. “It shows how much we mean to her.”

To show how much grandma means to them, the kids made their own sign for Louise. It’s a large photograph showing all of the students waving from inside the bus.

“This is from the kids,” Mitzelfeld told her. “They miss you and want you to get better.”

The stroke has partially paralyzed Louise Edlen’s throat, making it very difficult for her to speak, but the children inspire her.

“I miss them, too,” she strained. “I’m trying to get better.”

“It means everything in the world to her,” said her husband Dave Edlen. “It gives her something to look forward to every day.”

If all goes as planned, Louise Edlen will return home on Tuesday and promises to be back in her window, waving, by the time the children head home from school.