TODAY'S HERO

The choral group from Tampa's Gaither High School arrived Thursday in New York City to perform at St. Patrick's Cathedral, and also sung at Ground Zero, the spot that once was the World Trade Center. They had planned to return to Tampa yesterday, but Mother Nature had a cruel surprise.

In anticipation of the severe weather that affected much of the northeastern U.S. over the weekend, Delta Air Lines cancelled the choral group's flight Saturday. That meant there was no choice but to book another night of hotel rooms for the 75 students and 25 chaperones...a very expensive proposition considering it's NYC...about $6,000, to be exact.

WFLA-TV reported this morning that with the group out of money, an unnamed chaperone stepped up and used her personal credit card to book the rooms at a Sheraton for the additional night. It's not very often you have an individual ready to step up and offer $6K on his/her credit card --- even when you have someone who is able to do so --- but the group from Gaither are certainly thankful it happened...that individual is today's I4J hero.