A blind man whose dentures were stolen from outside a Royal Oak Walgreens where he sits is on track to get a new set, thanks to support from the public.
A GoFundMe for Francis Sawicki had exceeded its $3,000 goal by Wednesday afternoon, raising nearly $4,000 from about 120 donors in a day and a half. The campaign was launched after the Oakland County Times reported Tuesday that Sawicki's items had been stolen from where he sits at Woodward and Coolidge. The 67-year-old is a fixture outside the Walgreens location there; according to the online publication, he's been selling pencils from that spot for 18 years.
In addition to the online fundraiser, people have been stopping by to offer Sawicki cash and other gifts, according to the Free Press.
The paper visited Wednesday:
One mother-daughter pair brought $245; another person brought pens and pencils to replace his stolen stock, [Sawicki said].
During [his] conversation with a Free Press reporter, two women pulled into the Walgreens parking lot to bring him donations. One said she would also buy him a new portable phone charger.
