Way to go Guelph!

An e-mail from a visitor:

Dear Mayor Farbridge,

I have just arrived in your city for a conference for a week and the hospitality and generosity of your citizens is so beyond what I have encountered elsewhere in decades of travelling that I wanted to send you a note.

This afternoon, shortly after arriving in the city after a long flight from Seattle, I was waiting for the 2B bus to go to downtown with a friend who had also just arrived (from Italy) after a long flight. The 15 bus came by and stopped, and told us that the buses didn’t make change. We just had $20 bills. A young couple walked by and we asked them if they could change a $20 bill. They couldn’t, but they immediately gave us the change they had – $3, which wasn’t enough for both of us. Then an African man wearing a Zanzibar T-shirt came by and we also asked him to make change. He couldn’t either, but immediately just gave us the remaining $2 we needed. In both cases we didn’t ask for any money – they just gave it to us immediately and without hesitating. After this, I’ll be in a good mood for the whole week!

 Congratulations on helping to create an atmosphere in your city where this kind of help to strangers is the norm.