Joy Factor is a new Joytv.ca feature that celebrates moments that will bring a smile to your face! Be it an uplifting news item, a funny viral video, or an instance where good emerges out of bad situation, Joy Factor strives to shine a light on the best this world has to offer.
Usually when someone draws up a bucket list, you expect to see goals like ‘go skydiving,’ ‘visit Paris,’ or ‘do something that scares you.’ One wouldn’t assume that ‘get arrested’ is something that would make the cut when compiling a list of things to do before death. Well, Edie Simms certainly didn’t get that memo.
On Friday, the 102-year-old Missouri woman scratched one more item off of her bucket list after being handcuffed and placed in the back of a St. Louis Police car. No, fortunately this trip wasn’t the result of a minor crime spree or hoax; rather it was to bring a smile to the face of a beloved member of the community.
Simms wasn’t hauled off to the slammer. Rather, Simms was escorted to St. Louis’ Five Star Senior Center, a place in which she has donated hundreds of handmade items (pillows, scarves, walker bags, etc.) to residents. Despite providing this service for years now, this was the first time Simms visited the facility.
“We love it and we get more out of it than the seniors do,” commented St. Louis Police Sgt. John McLaughlin in an interview with KPLR.
How did Simms manage to nab such an amazing experience? As it turns out, a volunteer at the Five Star Senior Center is a friend of a local policeman. Thus, the wheels became easily greased.
Once in the cruiser, “Edie held her hands up to show that she had the handcuffs on! She’s just such a neat lady,” recalled Michael Howard, the Executive Director of the Five Star Senior Center.
“Keep going, don’t ever stop whatever it is you’re doing,” said Simms in an interview with KPLR. “Spend some time doing community service because sometimes the person you reach out and touch, is the only person that they will talk to in a day. It’s a great world if you just open your eyes and look at it.”
-Adam Grant
