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Cleveland Citizens Care
ROCKY RIVER — A woman walked into the Walgreens on Center Ridge Road on a recent Sunday night and handed a manager an envelope filled with 100 $100 bills to help a store worker seriously injured in a car crash days earlier. Then the woman slipped out of the store. No name, no fanfare, no tax break. Just a helping hand for a person in need. She was an older woman who didn't want to be noticed. She quietly asked a few simple questions:
How was Andrea Grebe, the 10-year store employee whose legs were amputated after a car accident a few days earlier?
Did she have insurance? What about her medical bills?
That's when the woman gave the store's assistant manager the envelope. Inside was $10,000 for Grebe, a woman police say was a victim in a drunken driving crash Dec. 4.
The gift came Dec. 7, three days after an accident forever changed the lives of Grebe and her two daughters. Nearly two weeks after the accident, Grebe remains in critical condition in MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.
"The woman was concerned about Andrea's bills," said Jacqui Dyer, the Walgreens manager. "She wanted to do something to help her. It was pretty unusual that someone would have that kind of cash on a Sunday night."
The next day, Dyer deposited the money in a bank account for Grebe.
Police reports and interviews say Grebe, of Strongsville, left Walgreens about noon Dec. 4 for a doctor's appointment. A few miles away on Center Ridge Road, near Horseshoe Boulevard in Westlake, her 2000 Impala broke down in the left, westbound lane. She sought help, then got out to get some jumper cables in her trunk.Grebe was behind her car when a car driven by David Sides, 46, of Westlake hit her, pinning her legs between the cars, according to police. A police report said Sides did not see Grebe or her car.
He was charged with aggravated vehicular assault, drunken driving and operating a car with a blood-alcohol content of 0.169 percent, or more than twice the state's 0.08 percent limit.
Grebe's presence can be felt around the Walgreens store. Her picture and fliers about her condition are placed in the store. She worked in pricing and inventory accuracy, making friends easily with friends and co-workers. "She never had anything bad to say of anyone," said Dyer, the Walgreens manager.
And the mystery woman? The store still has no clue who the woman was, and some may not care. They are just impressed that someone cared so much about Grebe.
People can contribute to a benevolent fund for Andrea Grebe at any branch of KeyBank.
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