A senior citizen has reached out in thanks to a stranger who bought her a new walking stick in a “random act of kindness”.

Marion Swan said she was delighted by the gesture, telling The Royal Gazette: “I couldn’t believe it. I was so excited when I found out they were serious. I want to tell her how much I appreciate what she did. I want to thank her.

“Now I have a beautiful walking stick for when I go out to church or my seniors’ events.”

Ms Swan said she visited Otto Wurz, at the junction of Front Street and Par-la-Ville Road, this week because she was a few minutes early for an appointment close by.

“I stopped by because I had a few minutes to spare,” she said. “I sat down and I saw the walking sticks. I didn’t know they had walking sticks.

“I chatted to the lady at the register for a bit and I told her that I would come back after my appointment.”

She explained that she had a folding walking stick, but it had been damaged recently and now makes a noise whenever she walks.

“When I came back, that’s when I was told that someone heard me talking about the walking sticks and told the staff that if I came back, they would buy it for me.

“I thought they were just kidding me, but she was serious.”

Ms Swan said that the staff at the store told her that the donor wished to remain anonymous, and had referred to the $70 gift as her “random act of kindness” for the day.

The store’s owner, Anthea Edwards, said she was surprised and blown away by the offer from the anonymous customer.

“I asked her if she was sure. When she said yes, I thought to myself, ‘This is just incredible’,” Ms Edwards said.

“She said, ‘This is my good deed for the day’.

“This wasn’t a situation where someone was surprising a friend. They didn’t know each other.”

Her son, Christopher Edwards, added: “She wasn’t helping a relative. She was just a genuine Good Samaritan.”

He said that while he had heard of such things happening elsewhere, particularly around the Christmas season, he had never heard of anything like this happening at Otto Wurz before.