After California fire destroyed her home, Ricki Lake got unbelievable message from a stranger at a flea market
Television celebrity and actress Ricki Lake thought she lost everything in the wildfires, but a sudden message offered her a beam of hope.
When the LA fires broke out, television celebrity and actress Ricki Lake was devastated after losing her Malibu home and everything in the wildfires. However, a year later, when she stumbled upon a post made by an artist named Patty Scanlon, who had found some of her cherished memories, she was left speechless. Sharing the priceless reaction on her Instagram (@rickilake) on December 9, the actress's story has left online users in awe.
On December 7, Scanlon purchased a box of photos from Pasadena Flea Market for $20. However, she soon realized that some of the photos were of Ricki Lake and her son, twenty-eight-year-old Milo, as a baby. To contact the actress about the lost photos, Scanlon took to her Instagram account to share a few snippets of the photos and wrote, "Anybody know how to contact Ricki Lake? I picked up some found photos at Pasadena City College Flea Market and the box seems to be full of A LOT of photos of #Rickilake @rickilake ! I think she may WANT these. She may not have copies! Thank you!!!" Thankfully, the post came to the notice of Lake, who was in complete "disbelief."
The next day, both Scanlon and Lake went on an Instagram Live together to narrate the miraculous story to their followers about how Lake's pictures ended up at the flea market. Scanlon explained that she's an artist who regularly looks for photographs for inspiration, and that's how she stumbled upon a box of photos that she paid $20 for. However, upon returning home, she noticed that the woman in the picture looked familiar and "beautiful." Upon close inspection, she realized that it was the star from the movie "Hairstray." "I was like, wait, that's Ricki Lake. And then I saw a letter that read, 'Thank you for all the gifts for Milo. Here are some of his recent photos," Scanlon said. She added, "Then I thought perhaps they had an estate sale. So then I Googled and I was like Ricki's son's name is Milo and then I saw you'd been through the fire. I just thought I needed to contact her because it's so exciting to find these."
Lake revealed that when she lost everything in the wildfires, she came to terms with the heartbreaking fact that her photos, too, must have also been destroyed along with them. "It’s been almost one year since the fire, and I made peace with the fact that my photographs and memorabilia was gone. But the fact that you found these is unbelievable." She added that she couldn't thank Scanlon enough for her generosity in contacting her when she found Lake's long-lost photos. The pair decided to meet up when Lake is back in L.A., and she promised to take Scanlon out to dinner to thank her.
While Scanlon could have easily kept mum about Lake's photos, she chose to go to all lengths to contact Lake to return her valuable treasure, and social media played a big role in all of it. A 2016 study authored by M.J. Hattingh and M.C. Matthee examined whether social media platforms could be effectively used for reporting lost and found items. These community groups dedicated to lost and found services help individuals recover valuable items, promote community safety, and reduce the financial burden of lost possessions. The study noted how social media platforms employ crowdsourcing as a conceptual framework to understand message-sharing dynamics among these communities.
Soon after the post went viral, online users shared their joy watching Lake reunite with her cherished memorabilia. @leslieodomjr wrote, "Law of compensation. So happy to see you getting some of the love back that you give so freely." @spiritbabymedium commented, "Wow!! Definitely energies connect us in amazing ways!! Love you shared this! Wow, such a good manifestor!!" @ornaandmatthew shared, "Woohoooooo! Good people doing good things for other good people. This is the FEEL-GOOD story we all need right now."
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