Lorna and Ian Jenkins have always trusted in Yackandandah's community spirit.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
That's why the thoughtless theft of trees they had planted for the sake of others disturbed them so much.
But since The Border Mail reported that the couple's pretty lipstick maples had been removed from a roadside verge, the Jenkins have been reminded why their community is so special.
"I don't know that I have ever cried so much in my life - first from absolute frustration and disappointment, and then from all the people who were ringing up, cranky that this happened in Yackandandah," Mrs Jenkins said.
The community's outrage has not led to the person who stole the maples - planted in partnership with a neighbour to beautify the town's entry - but it has led to new trees.
Mrs Jenkins was overwhelmed by the offers of support on social media (relayed to her by daughter Larelle), which came from as far as Queensland.
"The phone has been ringing hot since," she said.
"Our daughter got onto a childhood friend of hers who lives in Yackandandah.
"The next thing we knew, she has got in contact with Erin [Powell] at Stanley Nursery.
"We taught Erin as a child, and she is a gorgeous lady. Erin and Tom donated advanced trees to us, I couldn't believe it."
IN OTHER NEWS:
It has bewildered the Jenkins, who are in their 80s and have called Yackandandah home for 46 years, to experience social media's power.
Their daughter's post about the theft was shared 1900 times, and Facebook also helped to put the new trees in the ground.
"We had a working bee with the Yackandandah Gardening Club - they've planted them with friends who came along - and Steve from the Indigo Shire brought a load of bark chips," Mrs Jenkins said.
"It's just been the most amazing, lovely thing.
"It's really what Yackandandah is all about."
And if the maples raise malicious interest next winter, any potential thief will have a much harder time, with guards put up around the replacement trees on Yackandandah-Wodonga Road.