A taste of human decency

When Kathleen Walker's grill and those of several others on her block in the city's Tacony section were stolen last weekend, she felt like thieves were taking what little she had.

But on Monday, after her story ran in the Daily News, readers proved to the mother of three, who's on welfare, that for every taker in this city, there are three givers ready to step forward.

More than a dozen people contacted the Daily News in the wake of the article, wishing to donate a new grill to Walker and her neighbors.

Ed Rubino, owner of Ralph's Italian Restaurant in South Philadelphia, was determined to replace Walker's grill as soon as possible.

"I just feel like, how do you not be moved by this story?" he asked. "I have read articles in the past about people who've had hardships. You always feel that the other person will do it.

"I just felt like today was the right day for me to do it," he said.

So, at 8:30 a.m. the following morning, Rubino picked Walker up at her home and the two strangers went grill shopping together.

"He wouldn't let me get my old one. He told me: 'Any grill in the place, you pick any one,' " Walker said, quoting Rubino. "It's just beautiful."

Edward Fisher of Wilmington, Del., who owns several hot-dog stands in front of Home Depots, also felt compelled to help.

"I read the Daily News every day, and stories like this just kill me," he said.

Knowing that Walker already had a new grill, yesterday Fisher dropped one off for her neighbor, a pregnant single-mom whose grill was also stolen.

Walker said that three other people who wanted to donate grills to her are going to donate them to homeless shelters, at her request.

"I used to live in a shelter and we didn't have anything like that," she said. "I just feel so blessed, so overwhelmed, so stunned."

Several people also offered to buy a padlock for Walker's grill, so it doesn't get stolen again. She told one person who called and asked if he could purchase a new grill that she was "all grilled out."

"He said 'We don't care. We're going to go cookware shopping and buy you a nice big package,' " she said.

Former and current residents of the area were also moved by Walker's story.

"She practically lives six blocks from my house," Michelle Arabia said. "You know, you're reading it and you realize it could have happened to anybody in the neighborhood."

Mike Ginsberg, a lifelong Daily News reader who grew up in the Northeast, said that he and his wife felt compelled to help. Not knowing what the Walker family would like to cook on their new grill, he sent a supermarket gift card instead.

"I was always proud to say I was from the Northeast," he said. "Those things didn't happen when I grew up. Back then, the neighborhood pitched in. That's what you did."

Ginsberg, who volunteers with an area youth panel, said he sees kids all the time who are stealing similar items and aren't forced to pay back the victims. He said this was his way of doing something for those victims.

"Most of the bad stories you can't do anything about but this one we could," he said. "My nightmare is hopefully, people don't do it again, but at least she'll know there are people out there who are not like those folks," he said. *