BRISTOW, Okla. — A business in Bristow is outraged after the theft of a tip jar meant for a little girl’s cancer fight.
Bristow Police Department shared security footage Friday that appears to show a man walk up to a convenience store counter and take the jar.
Run Stop on 10th Street and Main Street in downtown Bristow might look like just another route 66 gas station, but the writing on the walls shows otherwise.
“We love anything positive here," employee Lacy Barrera said of the friendly message boards around the store. "And sometimes things we need to hear, I feel like other people need to hear. So if we can give them a good word of the day or anything, we love to do it.”
The Run Stop is loyal to its loyal customers, which is why its owner put a simple donation jar on the counter for six year-old Natalie Sanders, daughter of longtime customers and who is currently in an Oklahoma City hospital fighting pediatric brain cancer.
“Wednesday morning a customer had come in here and took it off the counter. And when I came into work later in the day, I was like, ‘Where’s the donation jar?’” Barrera said.
The store's owner said the thief simply walked in, approached the counter, and when nobody was looking, picked up the donation box and walked off with more than one hundred dollars meant to fight Natalie's cancer.
“It’s just really sad that someone has to...steal money from you know, a little girl who’s already fighting for her life from cancer," Natalie's mother Courtney Sanders told 2 News. "You just have to be at a really low place.”
However, the Sanders credit their faith and their neighbors in Bristow for helping them fight through the persisting bad news.
“I mean just the outpour, the outreach of everyone. Everyone has been so kind to us throughout this really hard time, and Bristow is just an awesome place to live and to be a part of,” Sanders said.
That Bristow spirit is also where Team Natalie wristbands come from.
And the Sanders invite anyone to help in Natalie’s fight.
Family members have also established an account in the name 'Natalie Sanders' at Community Bank in Bristow that anyone can donate to.
The bank can also be reached at (918) 367-3343 during business hours.
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