Social media helps reunite Special Olympic athlete with bag after it was stolen in Spain
Sometimes you just need a feel good story and without a doubt, this is today's.
Geraldine Buckley, from Mallow in County Cork, was on holiday last month in Palmanova with her husband Tadhg and son Jason.
On the last night of their holiday, they returned to the room to find the safe had been broken into.
Among the items stolen was Jason’s iPod Nano, Gameboy and two Special Olympics branded backpacks.
“Jason was devastated that anyone would do that to him,” Geraldine said speaking to Patricia Messinger on C103 today.
She went on to say that although they reported the crime to both the police and the hotel, the bags were not retrieved and Jason had to fly home without his music.
In the meantime, a woman named Nuira out jogging in Palmanova found one of the bags and posted a photo of it on Facebook.
As Nuria works in a special needs school, she recognised the logo and the importance of the contents in the bag.
After hundreds of shares, the power of social media narrowed it down to the Munster area and Geraldine quickly received a call from Special Olympics Ireland give her the good news.
After getting in contact with the jogger, the Cork native mentioned to her that another bag of theirs was also missing.
This prompted her to go out searching and found the second bag, with all items inside.
Geraldine and Tadhg decided to fly back to Palmanova to collect the bags in person.
Muria's school have since invited Jason, a successful athlete with the games, to visit the school next year.
